Silver Starling began as a project of Montreal-born singer-songwriter Marcus Paquin. Outside of creating his own music Marcus has been a recording engineer having worked with Stars, Torngat, Arcade Fire and many others for over 10 years since graduating with a master's degree from McGill University. Paquin met drummer Liam O'neill after seeing him perform at a free jazz show and the two soon began performing the songs together. Marika Anthony-Shaw naturally joined the band as the third member adding violin, viola and keyboards. Peter X was soon added on bass guitar and banjo. The then four-piece recorded their self-titled debut album and added touring member Gabriel Lambert as an additional guitarist and soon became a permanent member. Falling under the genre classification of pop/rock their sound has been described as "brilliantly conceived, skillfully executed art-pop", "touchingly vulnerable yet heart-achingly optimist slow rock tinged with the gentleness of folk" with "an eclectic-yet-carefully-plotted blend of elements of Blues, Country, Rock" Before releasing their debut album on Toronto/Montreal based label Last Gang Records Silver Starling were featured on three large Canadian Music Festivals; Osheaga, Hillside and the Toronto Virgin Fest. The band toured in September 2009 in Quebec and Ontario to promote their upcoming album which was released in October in Canada and USA and also showcased at CMJ in New York city in October 2009, M for Montreal in November 2009 and SXSW in March 2010. February 26, 2010 Silver Starling premiered their debut video for "Closer" on Spinner Magazine and were soon after chosen for The Freshman Video competition at mtvU online, alongside Jonsi from Sigur Ros. UK band Band of Skulls added Silver Starling as an opener for their cross Canada tour. Drummer Liam O'neill left the band shortly before tour and was temporarily replaced by longtime friend or Paquin's, Mike Shulha. The album reached No. 115 on Earshot Top 200 and No. 130 on the CMJ top 200. Their music is distributed through Universal Music in Canada and Fontana in USA.
