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If you've seen the film Donnie Darko, you are familiar with it's stunning ability to step back to the 80's via the port de` millennium 2000. As futuristic as we are and have become, we still have our ties and to that loosely topped time capsule from which sights and sounds still slowly leak and spittle. In some ways, Stellastarr* is fully capable of ripping the cap right off that canister and releasing a wave of sound that could make up for all of the neon miscues that ran rampant during my formative years. Just like the film, which, in fact, has nothing to do with this band, Stellastarr*, may not have been as good if they had actually arrived in the era they seem to resemble greatly. With a swift look in their rearview mirror, the band is able to stand out quite differently from many bands in the same 'scene' or 'market' and they must have a hell of a time doing it.
Track listing:
01 In the Walls
02 Jenny
03 Million Reasons
04 My Coco
05 No Weather
06 Moongirl
07 Somewhere Across Forever
08 Homeland
09 Pulp Song
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Through a clashing collage of sounds that don't make a whole lot of sense when explained as words, the band makes songs that move and excite in ways those 80's kids would never have thought of and us 2000 kids would never have dared to try. Crunching guitar chords meet 'the' electro-keys soundwave lined against syllabic background vocals to create tunes sounding -almost- like a lot of old school jams. From here Stellastarr* takes things one step further adding a huge dose of originality and versatility. The result is an aggressively charged sound that has enough sense to smooth out and deliver from a perfectly skewed point of view. Melodically, the interplay between Shawn Christensen (lead vox, guitar) and Amanda Tannen (bass) creates very interesting pre-thought to a track like "My Coco" and an equally exciting layer to others, namely "Somewhere Across Forever," "Jenny," and "Homeland."
I don't mean in any way to give this band pigeon toes by leaning so heavily on this 80's crossbreed comparison. Songs like "Moongirl," survive completely on their own with an incredible ambience that is pushed to the brink of overload and breakdown by a torched guitar that runs through the bulk of the track. The vocals have a little effect to them that give more mood and placement than most of the other songs on this offering. Some great writing turns the airy spacescape, "Untitled" into a confessional outcry:
“Though I don't know quite why
but I'll never express how I feel
yes its true I've been tamed
the past two years, I've really changed...
...all I want is another try
all I want is to just feel the same,
so what's your name?”
While a handful of the other songs don’t come close to digging this far into the emotional side of the band's voice, the display touches on depth while charge is handled elsewhere. All in all, this is album is packed with highlights moving from one track to the next. It took a few listens for me to get used to everything, namely Christensen's voice, but once the picture -chopped just like the cover of this record- comes into complete focus you have a collection of really enjoyable songs here. Stellastarr* embraces several levels of energy on the album and I would have to think that their live show is just as pure.
In an effort to find modern comparisons I dove onto the band’s website to see who they’ve played with in the four years that they’ve been together and while the list is quite impressive, I didn’t see any one band that I could even put them in the same mold as. Stellastarr*’s sound is not only unique to the band, but possibly the breadth of their peers as well. Add this band to your list of things to check for when the same old song gets played one too many times. A refreshing break from everything, Stellastarr*’s self-titled full length is certainly a good spin worth spinning and spinning once again.
-Joel Armato 06/01/04
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