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Released in October, stellastarr*'s eponymous debut album
is a breath of refreshing air for a scene mostly influenced
by of all things New York. Although labelmates of The Strokes,
stellastarr* come from an altogether different timbre. You'll
hear Talking Hears, you'll hear Cure, and you'll hear Pixies
(female basist included!), but only the best elements those
bands have to offer. What results boils down to all-together-now
pop anthems and the most driving rock you will hear this year.
The album opens with debut single 'In
The Walls,' a shadowy number featuring a magnetic, delay-driven
riff courtesy of guitarist Michael Jurin. UK single 'Jenny'
follows, an angsty number about that girl we've all
known yet wish we hadn't. 'A Million Reasons' features a thundering
drum intro by Arthur Kremer, and crowd-pleaser 'My Coco' sounds
better than ever. But the true zest of the band resides in
the vocal pairing of Shawn Christensen and bassist Amanda
Tannen, a spicey-sweet resonance that follows you through
hectic Manhattan nights. The band also proves they can hold
their own songwriting-wise throughout the first 70% of the
record (consider the one-two punch of the epic 'Moongirl'
and the explsive 'Somewhere Across Forever').
Then 'Homeland' rears its superfluous
head. Christensen goes from 'Forever,' a hopeful talke of
breaking through horizions, to waxing poetic about a swimming
pool (no, really). The mandatory love ballad 'Untitled' follows
the patio pop, and well intentioned blandness takes over.
While gorgeous on its own, cliche keyboards and a departure
from the M.O. paint 'Untitled' as an unneccessary addition.
It's a shame, because if the momentum had been sustained all
the way to the adrenaline-wild crescendo of 'Pulp Song,' stellastarr*
would have been a critic-silencing classic. And why was EP
closer 'School Ya' stricken from the record?
Nonetheless, what we have in stellastarr*
is an ambitious benchmark against which all bands- New York
or not- should be measured.
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