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Local music notes: Halsey Harkins’ debut EP and the end of the line for two Vegas favorites

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Halsey Harkins

DARLING DEBUT When we spoke with Halsey Harkins in July 2016, the Las Vegas musician was already a fixture on the performing scene, regularly subbing as a pianist in shows along the Strip. But crafting and playing her own music as a singer-songwriter was something she was still figuring out.

“I was a bit intimidated by the recording process,” Harkins says days before the release of her debut EP, Darling of Mine. The collection of songs, written in December and recorded over four months at a local home studio, was the artist’s way of healing after the end of a relationship, she says.

“I got my heart broken pretty bad. I was with somebody for about five years, and I thought this was the human I was going to be with. … This record was literally me coping.”

Coming out with a smoky, powerful new album isn’t her only triumph—although that would have been enough. That listeners have said they relate to her music has been a reward on its own, Harkins says.

“We’ve all felt a fool, we’ve all just not seen it and it’s been right in front of our faces,” Harkins adds. “Releasing [the EP] is kind of the end of it. It feels like this is done, and I can give it to other people and move the f*ck on.”

A full-time musician—she still plays in Strip shows Baz: A Musical Mash-up and and accompanies musical theater classes at UNLV—Harkins shines as a vocalist and pianist on Darling of Mine, on which she’s accompanied by an impressive lineup of Vegas players, including Sean Carbone, Renaldo Elliott, Abe Gumroyan, Sam Lemos, Kaylie Foster and B. Rose.

Though Harkins says finding and growing into her own musical identity hasn’t been easy, Darling of Mine is the singer’s soulful payoff—personal yet accessible, and the start of a promising solo career.

Halsey Harkins EP release show with Glass Pools, Almost Normal. Thursday, October 26, 8:30 p.m., Bunkhouse, $10.

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BOWING OUT New Wave rockers Close to Modern and art-punk band Candy Warpop both recently announced on Facebook that they’re calling it quits.

Close to Modern posted on October 19, thanking fans for their support and canceling an gig previously scheduled for October 28 at the Bunkhouse.

On September 29, Candy Warpop announced that October 1 and 6 would be the band’s last shows. The group is at work on a final album it says will capture “a unifying message, punk rock energy, strange sounds and unusual time-signatures.”

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ALSO New hard-rock band Stereoglass (featuring Shannon Haffa of Negative Nancys on vocals) will release its debut EP November 2 at Velveteen Rabbit, with additional performances by Bounty Hunter Brothers and Strange Mistress.

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