Sound Salvation Army

An acquaintance of mine once insisted she didn’t “get” Stars. Namely, why two vocalists she insisted weren’t that talented were pushed so prominently forward in the mix on their records, why the songs were always centered around some kind of melodramatic romanticism.

But it’s those two elements that are so central to what makes Stars Stars. It also serves to both elevate their new album, the Five Ghosts, and simultaneously drag it down.

It takes only a cursory listen to any Stars song to realize that, yes, Amy Milan and Torquil Campbell are not the most showy singers; they don’t have Roy Orbison’s range (a suspected four octaves; respect) or Peabo Bryson’s bombast (huh?) or Susan Boyle’s dynamism (what?). Their performances are generally breathy, low-key, sometimes thin, all but whispers. But it’s less the singing than the devastating melodies those voices carry across to the listener that really count.

The one-two punch of “Dead Hearts” and “Wasted Daylight” is without a doubt the strongest album opening the band has ever had in that respect. Where other records have begun with drawn-out, meandering introductory pieces the Five Ghosts cuts right to the chase with one of the most memorable vocal melodies the group has ever produced. “Wasted Daylight,” one of the album’s more propulsive, building musical numbers is also boosted by a lilting and plaintive vocal melody. While much of the album doesn’t share the same lightness or brightness, the melodies remain the most prominent feature of Stars’ work.

And say what you will about the weight and gravitas of their voices, but Milan and Campbell have rarely sounded as versatile and, well, GOOD before. Their parts are clear, impassioned, and distinct and they continue to reach a new plateau every time out.

But it’s the other half of the songwriting equation where this album fails to capture my imagination. While the band did strike it big with “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead” (their most organic, orchestral songs to date) the vast majority of their career outside of the Set Yourself On Fire album has been based in electronic and keyboard sounds. The Five Ghosts might be their most thoroughly synthesized album since their earliest EPs, a fact which I’m not really that fond of. A band with this much pomp and drama, both lyrically and musically, comes across as seriously maudlin over the course of 40 chilly minutes of down-beat keyboards. I’m sure a lot of it has to do with personal preference, though; to me heartbreak is so much more tangible on a song like “Personal” (from the previous LP, In Our Bedroom After The War) that’s built around guitar and piano than the distant drum machining and swirling, atmospheric synths of a track like “He Dreams He’s Awake.” Again, maybe that’s just me.

Tonally this album once again lays the melodrama on pretty thick. Drama is a central tenant to what makes this band tick, but the rays of sunshine are surprisingly few and far between. In a recent interview Campbell told Exclaim! he always saw Stars as a band that makes “sad dance music” and that’s definitely true here. But there is virtually nothing uplifting, nothing in the vein of a “Look Up,” “Take Me To The Riot,” or “Ageless Beauty.” Everything here is death, aversion to change, zombies (unless I’m reading something into “Dead Hearts” that isn’t there), unappealing potential paramours, and fistfights between lovers. The final coda of the album declares, “Winter lives in my bones/it’s all I’ve ever known.” That seems like an all too fitting way to end this record.

I suppose it was just a matter of time until Stars let me down. The trilogy of their last several full-length albums has been too perfect; the other shoe had to drop sooner or later. The first half of the Five Ghosts is very good, and “Changes” is a pleasant surprise tucked into the latter half. But the majority of this album feels too cold, too distant. It’s a moody piece of work that is either not fitting my current frame of mind or is just a little too detached and depressing. I’m still not entirely certain.

 

 Stars - Dead Hearts [3:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Stars - Wasted Daylight [3:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Pick up the Five Ghosts in every conceivable format from the band’s web store. They’re also touring for pretty much the rest of the year, but (as they did earlier) they appear to be skipping Saskatchewan entirely.

That’s one more rung you’re slipping, Stars.

Pat entries Canadian content, indie pop, keyboard-gasm, keyboards, pop, snubs, Stars

Spookey Ruben is Canada’s undisputed musical oddball. From his debut more than a decade ago with the song “These Days Are Old” (with it’s nonsensical “oodle-oop-wee-iy-iy-oh-oo-yeah” refrain) and the cracked genius of the video that accompanied it, he’s been the musical visionary that never quite made it into the mainstream. Despite a high-profile label backing his first several releases he never quite broke into the public conscious in a big way, despite some heady critical praise (one reviewer called his debut album the Pet Sounds of the 90’s).

There is an unbelievable amount of stuff happening on his latest album, Mechanical Royalty, so much so that its hard to say where to begin. Taken as a whole, you could argue that the entire album is a tribute to lost keyboard and synth sounds that have fallen out of vogue in the last twenty years. Ruben and his band have, in fact, been known to pull out a dozen keyboards while performing these songs live. They’re sprinkled so liberally throughout the record that you really only notice when they aren’t playing, as Ruben weaves them so thoroughly into the tapestry of the music that they feel at home despite the fact that some of them sound painfully aged.

Taking a closer look at individual tracks, Ruben seems to be focusing on reclaiming various genres as his own on the majority of these songs. The keys, retro production/instrumentation, female backing vocals, and lyrics of “If You Wanna Know” and “U Don’t Know What You’re Missing” come off like lost Prince b-sides from the 80’s. “Rachel” is straight-up classic pop songwriting, drum machine beats and roboticized backing chants bolstering a bouncy soundscape consisting primarily of acoustic guitar and keys and Ruben’s acrobatic vocals. “American Processed Cheese” wanders into ‘heavy metal’ territory with predictably Velveeta results. “Superpoke” riffs on Facebook and its impact on the social fabric of society, the heavily-synthesized instrumentation coming off just a few keys short of elevator music until a saxaphone solo straight out of Huey Lewis and the News knocks the floor out from under you.

The unmistakable centerpiece is the title track, a guitar-heavy paean to prog-rock mainstays like Rush and Yes, a story about war between an advanced race of robots and the humans that created them that spans seven “chapters” and 15 minutes. It doesn’t seem to offer much if any sub-text that might connect it to the industry term that its title refers to (the cut an artist/songwriter/publisher gets from the sale of a physical/digital piece of music), but serves more as a reminder that despite our proclivity for creating and obsessing over technology mankind can often let it take us over instead. It definitely reaches what seems to me to be the ultimate goal of prog music: showing off the talent of the musicians. Let me tell you, the chops on here are so huge you would think Vince Shlomi had something to do with it.

So what are we left with? A true individual following whatever bizarre muse inspires him, a collection of songs that sound fun even when they’re aren’t necessarily meant to be, and a butt-load of keyboards. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but Ruben has crafted a deft, well-produced, and thoroughly unique set of songs that speak to his quirky nature and inherent ability. Any fan of pop music should find at least a little something to like here.

 

 Spookey Ruben - Rachel [2:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Spookey Ruben - If You Wanna Know [3:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Check out the Ruben-ator’s stuff at Hi-Hat Recordings’ merchandiser’s website or on l’iTunes.

Pat entries Canadian content, keyboards, left field, pop, Spookey Ruben