Equal parts doo wop, vocal jazz, and Norman Rockwell-era Americana,
Love to Live is a product of another time, an album that wouldn’t seem out of place on the phonograph of some postwar American living room. It’s a clever premise, really -- assemble three L.A.-based songbirds into one girl group, give them a copy of
the Andrews Sisters’ 50th Anniversary Collection, and see what happens -- and the gamble pleasantly works, resulting in a neo-nostalgia album that places
the Living Sisters alongside a number of other vintage-minded groups. Like
She & Him,
the Living Sisters devote most of their time to an amalgam of retro sounds and forgotten genres, infusing a little contemporary appeal into the mix but always remaining focused on the past, not the present. And like most mid-century girl groups, they all have specific roles to play:
Inara George is the unspoken leader,
Eleni Mandell is the brainy workhorse (of the album’s eight original tunes, four are her own), and
Becky Stark is the cute ingénue, the
Baby Spice of the boomer generation. All three have demonstrated their ability to sing with other groups, and the close harmonies on
Love to Live are virtually flawless, particularly on album highlights like “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down” and “Double Knots.” ~ Andrew Leahey