For many of us, 2005 is already officially ‘the year of The Arcade Fire’, yet spare a thought for this other Montreal-based outfit. Closely aligned to the ever-widening Broken Social Scene collective, Stars have produced a little gem on this their third album.
Densely layered and featuring a bright array of instrumentation, Set Yourself On Fire is a record for the indie-fan of a certain vintage and sensibility. In tone, it captures the melodramatic sweep of Death Cab For Cutie’s most recent opus, Transatlanticism. In theme meanwhile, it’s all hung up on that old reliable, “death and shit”. (What? You thought The Flaming Lips had a copyright on that subject matter?)
Titles include ‘He Lied About Death’, ‘Your Ex-Lover Is Dead’, and amusingly ‘One More Night (Your Ex-Lover Remains Dead)’, but this is not a morbid or heavy album. Far from it. The songs bubble with insistent, buoyant rhythms, guided always by the uplifting vocal thrust of Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan. Millan, in particular, has an astonishing presence. Part Kirtsy MacColl, part Sarah Cracknell, she seems both vulnerable and resilient all at the same time.
The band’s range of influences is also remarkable. There’s a hint of classic soul about ‘The Big Fight’, traces of the Pet Shop Boys on ‘One More Night’, and there are two wondrous throwbacks to shoegazing giants of yore, Slowdive (‘Ageless Beauty’) and My Bloody Valentine (‘Sleep Tonight’).
If there is a criticism, then perhaps it is that the album feels a little over-long. But for folks who enjoy literate, ambitious pop music, this is a treasure.