Published: June 18, 2008 03:49 pm            

Roots artist blurs the line between country and punk

DANVILLE — Her music is imbued with the lilting wail and hardened pathos of country music. It just so happens it’s delivered with spiked-hair and safety-pin-in-the-nose glee.

And Sarah Borges wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It’s not a conscious effort. It just comes out that way,” she said of the raucous roots sound she’s developed with her band the Broken Singles. “I write some songs and we give them the treatment appropriate for our band. Because we use a pedal-steel guitar, they do have a country element to them. But we just think they’re rock songs all the way around.”

While the somewhat strange bedfellows has allowed this partnership to carve out a niche within the music scene, it’s not without its problems. Namely that’s in the marketing of the band.

“Not everybody knows what to do with music like ours because it is so varied,” Borges said. “I always equate it to anyone’s record collection. I don’t think there’s that many people who own just one style of music.”

That’s certainly true with Borges. As a 1990s high-schooler in Taunton, Mass., alternative rock was king of the music charts. She soon delved into punk, discovering the correlation between the style and its influence on her favorite alternative bands. The guys who would comprise the Broken Singles (guitarist Mike Castellana, bassist Binky, and drummer Rob Dulaney) introduced her to country.

Borges didn’t start writing her own music until college. Musical theater was her talent up until then. But the atmosphere proved more competitive than her aspirations.

“People are serious about it and you have to be dedicated,” she said. “Music was always my favorite part of musical theater as opposed to the acting and dance parts. I decided to focus on that.”

She acknowledges music is cutthroat too, but also more private.

“You just write your songs and hope people like them,” Borges said. “But it’s not an audition atmosphere where you’re competing directly with other people.”

Fortunately for her, Boston has a thriving folk scene where she could sharpen her skills.

“It’s such a loving audience, and they’re really supportive of new artists,” Borges said. “So before I had a band it was great to go out and try new songs in the folk rooms of Boston. It was a natural progression to start a band to play these songs. We moved into the rock scene once that happened.”

Their first recording together, 2005’s “Silver City,” was released only under Borges’ name. While their amalgamated sound was already coalescing at that point, the CD took a year to complete. Everyone had day jobs and recording could only be done on off-days. In contrast the follow-up, 2007’s “Diamonds in the Dark,” took only eight weeks and is an overall better representation of the group.

“It was much more a concerted effort,” Borges said. “It’s like anything else — you lose your train of thought if you take too long of breaks. I like that record but this one feels more like how we play as a band.”

How they play often attracts a diverse crowd to their shows.

“Our style encompasses a lot of different genres, so we get a lot of folks who are just music lovers,” Borges said.

But you don’t have to be a music scholar to appreciate Borges and the Broken Singles either.

“We also get a lot of people who are out for a good time on Saturday night,” Borges said. “We have an eye on that too. We want to make sure people are having a good time.”

———

Online:

www.sarahborges.com



Just the facts

WHO: Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles

WHEN: 8 p.m. June 27

WHERE: The Royal Theater, 59 S. Washington St., Danville

        

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