Stars Shine Brighter than Ever
Michelle da Silva
“Nightsongs, was the result of two Toronto boys marooned in Brooklyn feeling small and alone, and recruiting a rotating cast of friends to help them whisper a lovely message of beautiful, hopeful things. Heart, was a full band falling in love together and settling into a euphoric hibernation under grey woolly covers. Set Yourself On Fire is the sound of what happens after the thaw. It's thinking your life is on track, and when the floorboards collapse under your feet, giving in to the chaos instead of fighting it, starting over again more brilliant and gorgeous and raw than you've ever been before.”
– Stars’ official website
I’m not one for concept albums, but the sweet, pop-rock sounds of Canadian boy-girl band Stars are charming enough to make me reconsider. A Toronto to Montreal transplant, Stars is made up of Torquil Campbell, Amy Millan, Chris Seligman, Evan Cranley, and Patrick McGee. The quintet writes some of the most appealing music you’ll ever listen to, and on September 24, 2007, their fourth album, In Our Bedroom After The War , drops.
Their last album, Set Yourself On Fire , was released in late 2004 and really put Stars on the map in terms of the Canadian indie music scene with mainstream appeal. Numbers off of this album can be described as narrative conversation-songs. They are optimistic and blunt and airy all at once, and yet there is an underlying structure encompassing the whole album that exudes an undeniably haunting, dark mysticism. From the opening song “Your Ex-lover is Dead,” the album begins with a grandiose, brass orchestra feel. Heavy and strict rhythms contrast with light lyrical melodies, mocking the words that they speak. Perhaps this is to mark the warm burst from winter the band writes about on its website, setting the theme for the rest of the album.
Set Yourself On Fire is everything you would expect from a pop-rock album: rich instrumentation, playful harmonies, and reflective lyrics. The band’s earlier interest in electronic-pop, indicative in its first two albums, is also explored in songs like “The First Five Times.” And sweet, understated ballads such as “Calendar Girl” offer a subtle contrast from the extravagantly rich horns filling the rest of the album. Overall, Stars’ third album has left listeners and critiques alike wondering what happens “after the thaw.”
If the fourth album, In Our Bedroom After The War, is meant to answer this question, then what is left is new life, a return to nature, and brilliance. The vocals are more assertive and whole, and the instrumentals have matured to a more synthesized, electronic-orchestral sound. A sneak peek at the song “The Night Starts Here” reveals an intelligent, reassuring tranquility that has evidently been crafted over years of playing together. Is this perhaps a sign that the album could be conceptualized as “rebirth”?
After listening to the album, Stars fans should be left with a greater feeling of resolution than what the band’s previous albums have offered. In Our Bedroom After The War rises to the occasion in a radiantly perplexing manner, marking a metamorphosis to mature and elegant pop-rock. |
