Florida-based alternative rock act Darkwater and Stars can trace its origins to when frontperson and multi-instrumentalist Melissa Griffin started the project as a solo recording project that showcased genre-bending exploration of darkwave, post-punk, blues, shoegaze and 80s and 90s alternative rock while collaborating with other artists.
In January 2024, Darkwater and Stars evolved into a trio with the addition of Griffin’s partner TJ Alison Amral (drums) and their friend Allison Cohen (bass). Bringing together Cohen’s deep love of DC hardcore punk with energetic and melodic bass lines, TJ’s inherent rhythmic feel and blues harp playing with Griffin’s emotionally driven vocal and gritty rhythm guitar, the trio retained the initial roots of the band but with a stronger focus on 90s alternative rock. Thematically, Griffin’s lyrics frequently revolve around heavy hearted emotion, angst and failed relationship issues.
The trio’s latest single “Only Human” sonically brings a seamless blend of shoegaze, post punk and L7 riot girl-alt rock that showcases the band’s deft musicianship within an expansive, hook-driven song paired with Griffin’s lyrics talking about the strum und drang of her youth. Griffin explains that the song is a reflection of her past struggles with addiction back in the 1990s while she was living in Gainesville, written from her current, wizened, older self, looking back at her youth. Her drug use was a coping mechanism to escape from the messiness of her life and to escape from herself and her truth — until things got bad. “I was also coming out of the closet at the time and my whole world felt overwhelming,” she adds.
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