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Stars: Sad Robots EPStars’ latest EP on Arts and Crafts Offers some Surprises
What Stars do best is craft songs out of melodrama that approaches the unbelievable, reining in their symphonic urges with compelling personal details or turns of phrase.
Stars' songs are often diametrically opposed narratives that talk back to each other; split down the middle, Torquil Campbell's wounded male squares off against Amy Millan's femme fatale in a contest of wills to see who comes out in one piece. Their voices prop each other up and tear each other down in alternating moments of passion and vengeance. Maintenance Hall 4 AMThe EP starts with a slow burning instrumental track, reminiscent of the opener to last year's In Our Bedroom After The War, "The Beginning After the End"; what "Maintenance Hall 4 AM" lacks, however, is the electronic thrust of its counterpart, choosing to linger in the ether, never fully lighting on the ground for long. A Thread Cut With a Carving Knife"A Thread Cut With a Carving Knife" builds subtly enough, with its subdued keyboards and Torq's mise-en-scene setting lyrics, "It was a hot a sultry afternoon," he sings locating the first part of the narrative in the vernal season as the drums build around the end of the refrain. The song's narrative is composed of brief glimpses of three different groups of people; a codependent couple that "forgot to fall apart that day and the next day," a suicidal young man who "decides he [is] through with love" but isn't able to jump because "the water looked so black and deep...he closed his eyes and went to sleep till the next day," and an overworked alcoholic who is as "cold as the ice at [their] front door," who passes out on their bed after "rais[ing] a champagne glass and shout[ing], '**** the war.'" The principle theme of the three narratives is a simple but powerful one; life is precious - as precious as "a thread cut with a carving knife" - and no matter how terrible one day may seem, its worth getting through the night to prove that "Today Will Be Better, I Swear," a sentiment echoed (and title of the penultimate track) from In Our Bedroom After The War. Undertow"Undertow" takes a poppy synth-driven back beat as its canvas upon which Amy Millan spills the story of another desperate character trapped in the endless push and pull of daily life, her voice repeating the refrain "When will it stop?" Yet the repetition of the competing phrase "as we rise" suggests enough transcendence to keep the song from plunging hopelessness. Going, Going, GoneThe decision to include a live performance of "Going, Going, Gone," a track from their 2001 debut Nightsongs serves as a benchmark reminder of just how much their sound has changed in the seven years interim. The most alarmingly obvious change is in the inclusion and highlighting of two simple things that propel the once skeletal track into the stratospheric realm of Stars' finest symphonic and atmospheric productions: bass and drums. These two synchronized and dynamic forces form the thudding heartbeat of the song; they're as much in the front of the mix as Amy Millan's now fully-throated vocal, free of its former meekness. 14 Forever"14 Forever" is Torq's answer to the questions posed by the other tracks and Stars' statement of purpose for this EP: "I'm fourteen forever if I make you believe," eternal youth is found in the fleeting beauty of a four-minute pop song. Songs can take you home, to your door, back to your past and console you against the storms and rages of a difficult life. Sad Robots"Sad Robots", the EP, closer revisits the opening theme's sense of weightlessness as it repeats a similar chord progression accompanied by Millan's French incantations: "Il pleut, il pleut, je pleut, je pleut" (it's raining, it's raining, I rain, I rain). The simple lyrics are filled with desire and loss, ending with the terms of endearment, "mon coeur" (my heart); an awkward closer to an EP filled with such bright moments. A Promise of Things to ComeStars' latest EP will sound familiar to longtime fans, as it contains a brief snapshot of their cinematic sound and one live rerecording of an older track; the familiarity is not however an indicator of a lack of quality or evolution, however subtle. For those new to the band, Sad Robots offers a taste of the best parts of Stars' oeuvre, teasing listeners to play it again and to dig deeper. For any listener, what the EP promises is an exciting new full-length in the future, an album that's as loud and balanced as the last and as personal and private as they all have been up to now.
The copyright of the article Stars: Sad Robots EP in Indie Pop Music is owned by Joseph Curtis Henderson. Permission to republish Stars: Sad Robots EP in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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