Los Angeles band Starling release their new EP, Plexus, alongside the official music video for ‘Sunbeam’, the EP’s opening track.
Like the first page of a fairytale that doesn’t shy away from the heavy, ‘Sunbeam’ is a perfect example of Starling’s soundscape. Bedroom grunge and shoegaze blur together as heavy guitars meet vulnerable, intimate songwriting, creating a sound that is both dreamy and raw.
Starling began as a solo project from lead singer and guitarist Kasha Souter Willett in 2023, evolving into what it is today when Erik Sathrum Johnson, Grace Rolek and Gitai Vinshtok joined in May 2024.
Plexus was produced by Starling and mixed by drummer Erik Sathrum Johnson, with its four tracks capturing this current era of Starling.
“The rollout of the songs on ‘Plexus’ started early in 2026, without knowing what would become of them. We wanted to start putting new material out there, but only decided on the EP once a couple of songs were already out.
Kasha Souter Willett
We started to feel these songs fit together and how they were emblematic of this era of Starling. Many songs on the EP, such as ‘Sunbeam’ and ‘See the Water ’, are songs we have been playing live for a while. But ‘571’ and ‘Anti-sonata’ were born more in the shed that we recorded these songs in before bringing them to the stage. After experimenting with longer songs on our record Forgive Me, we wanted to focus on songs that were faster and more fun to play live.”
The accompanying video for ‘Sunbeam’ blends reality with stop-motion animation, creating a dark, dreamlike fairytale window into the world of Plexus.
“The music video for Sunbeam was initially going to be for a song that was scrapped entirely from the EP. We felt the concept fit much better for the song anyway. We worked with director Meriel O’Connell over a period of many months on concept and shooting, going with a play on the princess and the pea fairy tale with the use of stop motion for the dolls.”
Kasha Souter Willett
Live dates:
OCTOBER
06 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade – Altar @
07 – Nashville, TN – The End @
09 – Dallas, TX – Deep Ellum Art Co @
10 – Austin, TX – 29th Street Ballroom @
11 – San Antonio, TX – Vibes Underground @
13 – Albuquerque, NM – Launchpad @
15 – Santa Ana, CA – Constellation Room @
23 – West Hollywood, CA – The Roxy Theatre †
24 – San Francisco, CA – Brick & Mortar Music Hall †
26 – Portland, OR – High Limit Room †
27 – Seattle, WA – Baba Yaga †
28 – Boise, ID – Shrine Basement †
29 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court †
30 – Fort Collins, CO – Sound Bar †
31 – Denver, CO – Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox †
NOVEMBER
02 – Kansas City, MO – The Record Bar †
03 – Columbus, OH – Ace of Cups †
04 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall †
06 – Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater †
@ – w/ Cryogeyser
† – w/ she’s green and Witches Exist
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