Dan's Papers - September 12, 2008

Not many young musicians would turn down a record contract with a major, well-known company, but, staying true to her music, that's just what Stephanie Carlin, a recent graduate of Hampton Bays High School, did.

Answering a blind ad on Craigslist for a major fashion company interested in starting its own record label, Carlin was called in to meet with representatives from the company - which turned out to be Tommy Hilfiger. Of hundreds of responses to that ad, she was one of 10 offered a contract, which she promptly turned down. "The guy said to me, 'You're 18. You're hot. And you have a good voice,'" she said. "I was like, 'Really?'" Most 18-year-olds would have jumped at the opportunity, but Carlin is more driven by the need to create music on her terms, without being shoved into a box. "But it's a good story. It was a good learning experience."

Armed with a new CD, The Agony and Ecstasy of, Carlin is invigorating the East End singer-songwriter scene with her raw and intimate music, which is difficult to define. Though she generally dislikes labels (on her Myspace music page she says genres "push artists into little boxes with no airholes or water fountains"), she said during a recent conversation, "If you have to put me into a box, I'd say indie folk."

The Agony and Ecstasy of, Carlin's second EP, creates a unique sound that mixes indie folk and jazz. Her repertoire consists of not only her original songs, but covers of everything from jazz standards by Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday to contemporary acts such as Elliott Smith, Radiohead and Cat Power.

Carlin, who has been singing in vocal ensembles for six years and recently moved to Brooklyn to study jazz vocal performance at Long Island University, originally started performing her original music two years ago with her band, the now defunct Oliver Lankard, which she formed with her best friend. The group played more than 65 shows, performing at venues such as The Crazy Donkey, The Knitting Factory and Maxwell's. On the East End, Carlin and co. made East Enders Coffeehouse in Riverhead their home. "East Enders was so good to us," she said. "They always provided an outlet for us." They also played many Town of Southampton-sponsored events, winning the 2007 Battle of the Bands, and were invited to play at The Stephen Talkhouse, which didn't work out due to conflicting schedules.

Oliver Lankard, originally a six-piece band, at its height swelled to a 10-piece, including a three-piece horn section and three-piece doo-wop back up vocal section. But as the group started to get more serious, having more shows to perform and having won hours in a recording studio at the Battle of the Bands to record its demo, the group whittled itself down until only Carlin and the friend she formed the band with were left.

Having written most of Oliver Lankard's songs herself, Carlin decided to head into the recording studio alone. "I just went ahead and did it myself," she said. "It was better that way," adding that since she had to rearrange the songs, "It's a totally different sound. There's a new dynamic to the sound of the songs."

The result is The Agony and Ecstasy of, which is available online. But, despite how well the EP turned out, Carlin is quick to admit that she thrives on performing live. "For me, my heart is on my sleeve when I play," she said. "My friends have told me, my music is nothing until I play it live."

For more information about Carlin, her upcoming shows or to pick up her EP, go to www.myspace.com/stephaniecaringrock, where you can also hear an fantastic cover of Britney Spears' "Toxic."