Album excerpts:

"Tokyo Sky"

"Numbers"

"Sonja Cries"

Click here to order/download it from Amazon...only $3.99!

stellastarr* : Civilized
released on Bloated Wife Records
reviewed by Shades Patterson for GBH.tv

“I always hear you when you’re gone,” cries Shawn Christensen, lead singer of New York art-rockers stellastarr*, on their new song, “Freak Out.” I’d venture to say that Christensen and company would know. "Freak Out", off the band’s newest offering Civilized, is their first contribution to the musical ether since 2005. Once considered to be among the promising young bands coming out of a musical landscape that eventually produced the Strokes and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (heard of them?), it seems stellastarr*, with this new album, has recaptured the original exuberance with which they burst onto the scene in 2003.

Indeed, this album seems to enjoy itself – which is frankly nice to hear after all this time, because, as we’ve seen, it’s easy to get psyched out over the course of any extended absence (right, Axl?). On the contrary, Civilized announces that stellastarr* are back to the basics: which starts with just writing good songs, without having to move mountains with every single track.

For example, the infectious, somewhat fanciful, ‘woah-woah’s’ that make up the hook in “Graffiti Eyes” would never have been caught dead amidst the self-aggrandized posturing of their sophomore effort Harmonies for the Haunted. But damned if they don’t get lodged in the ol’ noggin for days. The zig-zag bassline in “The People” will get heads bobbing, sending hipster bangs all aflutter. And “Move On,” followed by the soaring closing number, “Sonja Cries,” are the band at their melodic best.

Make no mistake, stellastarr* can still do epic. The chorus to “Tokyo Sky” made me want to run through a field of tall grass after having done something heroic and fall into the arms of the girl I promised to marry before I left. And Christensen’s voice is still very aware of its own muscle – ranging from David Byrne (“Freak Out”) to the B-52’s (“Prom Zombie”) to Interpol (“Warchild”) and back again.

All that being said, the shining star of the album is track four - “Numbers,” which is the undisputed scorcher in this set. With bassist Amanda Tannen’s haunting ooh’s and ah’s falling and twisting behind him, Christensen’s frenzied vocals really cook. The guitar work is angular and sharp, relenting gloriously in the bridge like clouds parting after a rainstorm.

“I want to show you some signs of life. We need to feel alive,” Christensen declares on the track “Warchild.” After four long years away, stellastarr* has managed to do so with style, and just the right amount of flair.

Back to Reviews
Share