I bet you can name at least five male musical duos before you could come up with even a single all female one.  Cue the Final Jeopardy music.  I’ll wait.

Yes, I know there are female musical duos out there, but I can’t be the only person who needed Siri’s help to name one.  Why is this?  It doesn’t make sense.  There’s something undeniably powerful about the sound of two skilled female singers harmonizing.  Yet, it seems that traditionally these voices have been overshadowed by their male counterparts.

Maybe Golden Aster will change all that.

Golden Aster is the band name for the Baltimore-based, indie-folk duo of Letitia VanSant and Laura Wortman.  Each is an accomplished musician, singer, songwriter, musical collaborator, and performer in her own right with a distinguished career outside of the duo: VanSant as a solo artist and Wortman as one half of The Honey Dewdrops.  Together, as Golden Aster, they’re taking their considerable talents for a spin down some new roads for them.  Hop in.

For those of you who’ve experienced one of their live shows since they made their debut as a duo at the Holy Underground in 2017 and who’ve been anticipating hearing those songs and harmonies again through your car stereo or earbuds, the wait is over.

Golden Aster’s debut album, Marcescence, dropped in September, and (spoiler alert) it’s exquisite.  It would be an injustice to categorize the album as a side project.  It just may be that, but it’s so much more.  From its eleven songs, all written by either VanSant or Wortman, to the playing, singing, arrangements and production, the care that’s been put into the album is palpable.  Marcescence stacks up against anything the two have recorded before, either solo or with their respective groups.  And that’s saying something.

The pair first met about ten years ago when their bands shared a bill at the Creative Alliance.  The Honey Dewdrops were living in Virginia at the time, so the show’s organizers suggested VanSant and her band, The Bonafides, for a local opener to help with the draw.  Wortman said, “That show sold out mostly because of Letitia.  We didn’t know anything about her.  But she played a great opening set and joined us for a song at the end of the night.”

In Smalltimore fashion, their paths crossed on occasion after that, but they didn’t sing together again until several years later.  That’s when VanSant invited Wortman to record some harmony vocals for her Gut it to the Studs album.  Wortman accepted the offer but entered the studio with some trepidation.

“She [VanSant] has a higher vocal range than I do, and with our different timbres, I wasn’t sure how our voices were going to sound together,” Wortman said.  “But when I started singing her songs with her, I was blown away with how well our vocals blended.”

And from those recording sessions, the nascent Golden Aster band was born. “Our goal with Golden Aster all along,” VanSant said, “has been to make the music we both genuinely love.”

For VanSant and Wortman, though, it’s not just the timbre of their voices that differ.  They each have their own way of doing things – as songwriters, instrumentalists, arrangers, and performers.  But in Golden Aster, their respective styles aren’t compromised.  They blend, much like their vocal harmonies, to produce a musical synergy.  VanSant’s and Wortman’s personalities, and sheer joy in playing together, shine throughout Marcescence and are especially evident in their live shows.  For a band with so many sad songs in its repertoire, Golden Aster concerts are a really good time.

Most of the songs on Marcescence were written during the pandemic, but in no way is this a pandemic or even post-pandemic album.  In fact, it’s hard to pigeonhole its songs.  Marcescence touches on such a wide range of topics and explores multiple aspects of the human condition including grief, joy, self-doubt, and household chores (but not in that order.).  It goes way beyond your typical navel gazing, love-gone-wrong, singer-songwriter fare.

“I feel a responsibility in my songwriting to go somewhere unique,” VanSant said. “I don’t like to write heartbreak songs.  There’s just so much more territory out there to cover.”

Holy Hymn and Manatee are two of the album’s standouts, and songs that I thought would be most likely to elicit a strong emotional response from an audience.  They also happen to be the songs on the album that I think best capture the essence of a Golden Aster live performance.  About Manatee, Wortman said, “It’s so powerful with its simple chorus, ‘Come up for air, come up for air.’ I get goosebumps every time we sing it.”

When I asked VanSant about the reactions to these songs she said, “People have said to me, ‘I was feeling really sad about something, and I needed time to feel sad, so I listened to those songs over and over.”  That may seem like an odd sentiment, but it makes perfect sense according to recently published research that’s shed new light on why sad songs can be so enjoyable (and how the loneliest songs are beautiful things.)

The paper, On the Value of Sad Music published in The Journal of Aesthetic Education, concluded that people experience sad music in much the same way as they do a conversation with a friend. The enjoyment doesn’t come from the sadness, but from the feeling of connection it provides.  The researchers wrote, “The results suggest a striking relationship between music and conversation. Listening to a sad song can give one a sense of genuine connection.” Another interesting finding is that people who enjoy this music tend to be more empathetic than most. (Connected and empathetic also happens to be a pretty good description of a typical Golden Aster fan.)

I joined a host of Golden Aster fans at the band’s recent outdoor concert near Lake Montebello to see firsthand what all the buzz was about.  It was a very crisp autumn afternoon, and the leaves on the trees around the lake were near their peak of color.  The setting could not have been more perfect if it were West Kilbride, Scotland.  And Golden Aster rose to the occasion, playing a spirited set of songs from Marcescence and a few inspired covers for a receptive, all-ages crowd.  The event embodied all that is good and holy about the Baltimore music scene, and I came away from the concert appreciating Golden Aster all that much more (if that is even possible.)

BTW- Wortman’s electric guitar work at the show and on the album is like a master class in laying down understated, yet tasty licks.  She’s got some chops.

Joining VanSant and Wortman on the production of the Marcescence album is an all-star line-up of players given free rein to display their prowess, including Ahren Buchheister, Nick Sjostrom, Justin Kruger, and Laurel Premo.

Your next chance to catch Golden Aster in concert is Sunday, December 10, 2023, at An Die Musik Live! in Baltimore. 

More information about Golden Aster is available at their website:  GoldenAsterMusic.com

The Marcescence album is available on bandcamp:  Marcescence | Golden Aster (bandcamp.com)

Tickets to the December 10 show are available at:  An die Musik Live! – InstantSeats