Canadian quintet, Stars, have been churning out essential listening for over a decade. But perhaps their most listenable album yet, is their latest masterpiece, The North.
Stars came onto my map back around the same time that Arcade Fire’s debut did back in 2004, with the release of their politically charged stunner, Set Yourself On Fire (featuring one of my favorite songs that year, Ageless Beauty). Since then, they’ve released new music every year; mostly good stuff that has ranged from delicate piano balladry to melodic indie rock to stadium sized powerpop and more.
On The North, Stars have taken a timely detour into synthpop territory, and laced their beautiful lyrics with bouncy strings, bleeps, bloops and all sorts of cute production tricks. Amy Millan’s voice is as soothing as ever, while Torquil Campbell remains one of the most romantic vocalists I listen to. His voice absolutely melts me, for some reason.
On an album that goes from strength to strength with each subsequent song, my favorite of the bunch is “Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Give It” – which tugs at my heart strings every time. It features some nifty Peter Hook-style guitar work, a nice pop beat and some of the most gorgeously true lyrics I’ve heard all year. Have a listen to that song and the first track on the album, The Theory Of Relativity, below.
*Stars’ 6th album, The North, is out now via ATO Records.
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Stars “Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Give It”
Stars “The Theory Of Relativity”
