Stars - Set Yourself on Fire
By: Mark Runyon | Category: Album Archive | 04/08/05 | 01:44 AM
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Grade: B- | Genre: Electropop
Summary: Set Yourself on Fire is very solid pop music that makes you hopefully for the future of the genre, yet for all its merits it doesn't stick to your bones the way it should. |
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 The Stars are artisans of intriguing pop as is displayed in their third studio release, Set Yourself on Fire. They largely fall into the domain of smart, college radio electropop with their fuzzy guitars arrangements with an eye slanted towards experimentation. The Stars hail out of Montreal, Canada and are part of the burgeoning music scene that includes rising talents like the Arcade Fire and, Star's collaborators and sometimes band mates, Broken Social Scene. Pinning down their sound isn't an easy task. There is a hint of Velocity Girl, touches of Death Cab for Cutie and just of dash of Stereophonics.
Instead of having tracks that draw attention to themselves, this album works more as a cohesive whole. Their first single "Ageless Beauty" is a nice, airy, upbeat number carried on Amy Millan's vocals. It's a syrupy love song backed by an engaging chorus that has enough catch for Stars to make a dent in mainstream radio should the right light happen upon them. "One More Night" is one of the softer melodies that really lull you into submission. It's so easy you miss gouging lyrics like "she still fucks like it's you" and "look him straight in the eye/and tell him right now/that you wish he would die". The song is about the last night of a disintegrated relationship, trying to rub out a pain and bitterness through the rub of skin. This is very similar to the Beautiful South's "Don't Marry Her" in its flagrant disregard for what pop melodies are supposed to look like. It's a little strange, but this disk just reeks of the long locker clad halls of high school. It must be the retro arrangements they employ with wild abandon that will no doubt get them labeled in many camps as emo. What the hell is emo anyway? I've never really understood the designation so I'm not about to promote that concept.
The vocal responsibilities are a joint effort shared by Amy Millan and Torquil Campbell. Their voices complement each other splendidly and the two bounce harmonies off each other like a seasoned duo. There are a lot of numbers that revolve around relationships and each chime in to their respective gender's role to flesh out the drama. For the most part, the focus usually falls on Millan, which is wise since her voice is the stronger presence of the two. The title track is probably the most compelling look, highlighting the group's synergy. Campbell takes the lead running through hurried streets raining electronic blips and dodging urgent guitars. Strangely, the song just trails off at the end to segue into a minute long meditation of sorts as Campbell repeats, "Twenty years of sleep/fall asleep". They should have just taken to the clean break.
"Calendar Girl" and "The First Five Times" pretty much just fill space, not offering anything yet not tainting the water either. "He Lied about Death" is really the one track on the album that deserves to die a slow and miserable death. Somebody loses control of a guitar at one point and this artsy Led Zeppelin chaos ensues which the best headache promoter on the market. For the love of God man, please make it stop!
Set Yourself on Fire is very solid pop music that makes you hopefully for the future of the genre, yet for all its merits it doesn't stick to your bones the way it should. I've listened to it probably a dozen times and every time I really enjoy it, but there aren't that one or two tracks I immediately jump to. Also, I don't find myself craving it when I sit down in the morning planning out what disks I'm going to listen to. If it happens to be on the mp3 disk in question, then I'm certainly going to take it for a spin, but I don't make it a priority listen. So what does that mean exactly? This is one of those disks you really enjoy for a month or so then it becomes just another cog in your sprawling collection. Somebody will bring it up over coffee years from now, and you have that subtle mind pinch thinking, "yeah I remember that group". Regardless, Stars show a lot of promise, fueling new paths from forgettable efforts like their last release, Heart, but they still have a few sonic road trips to take us on before we should really perk up and take notice of what they have to say.
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