Dublin trio StarLittleThing set high standards for themselves. Two years ago, they scrapped a whole album of material in favour of something they were happier with. At last, they’re pleased enough to release their debut – and with reason.
At its best, the album has the feel of a high-speed drive through a rainy winter’s night. The foot-to-the-floor choruses of ‘Thinking All Along In One Line’, ‘I Could With You’ and ‘Not Not Connected’ raise the ghosts of Depeche Mode, while ‘Where Is The Child Gone?’ recalls the sonic barrage of Dry County.
However, StarLittleThing aren’t satisfied to mine the same seam of vampiric electro for forty-five minutes. There’s a whole lot going on here. While the anthems are there in force, the skeletal ‘Doin’ It Fixin’ It’ recalls the ticking counterpoint of Kraftwerk at their most intricate.
They even try their hands at those formless, ambient sonic suites Pink Floyd were so good at, all laced with ghostly snatches of samples and the utterances of weirdo-savants. ‘Wandering Life’ builds from a bluesy figure echoing in black space to a kitchen-sink climax reminiscent of Kid A closer ‘Motion Picture Soundtrack’. Final track ‘Fish Face’ is a lovely, lilting ballad, coupled with slamming percussion that just makes it appear all the more vulnerable.
Sometimes, though, it seems that the long incubation has produced too many ideas to fit on one album. While their originality is as unexpectedly wonderful as dipping chips in ice-cream (adding sleazy brass to ‘I Could With You’), it’s hard to build a coherent listen out of so many disparate parts.
But even though their ambition can be bewildering, it’s a refreshing change from those albums which boast a handful of singles and a fistful of filler. Just because they make it hard for us hacks to pigeonhole them doesn’t mean a thing. StarLittleThing are following the sound in their own heads, and it sounds pretty great to me, too.