I’ve been a big fan of Montreal-based Stars since a friend of mine played them for one afternoon up in his room. It was 2004 and I must’ve been back from university for the summer. I remember it so clearly because I was so impressed. The album was the band’s break-out recording Set Yourself on Fire. If you’ve heard it then you must know the gripping power of the strings on the opening track, “My Ex-Lover is Dead.” It’s an incredible album and features some of the best songs written of the last decade.
Sadly, Stars follow up to their wildly successful 2004 album was 2007′s In Our Bedroom After the War and as much as I dedicated myself to this album—as hard as I listened to it—I couldn’t get into it. It was a bit of a let down. Following the interesting and original 2004 release, this new record seemed a bit too boring and contrived. It didn’t feel very organic and the tracks seemed like a bit of a hodge podge—incoherent—and that was my biggest concern: it didn’t feel like a complete record.
Well, I’m happy to report that if Stars last album was disjointed, 2010′s The Five Ghosts is the complete opposite—and I like it.
The Five Ghosts is a wonderful record because, first and foremost, it feels like a complete work. Without feeling too much like a concept album themes of ghosts, hauntings, and disembodiment are weaved through The Five Ghosts tying the whole thing together nicely. The problem, in my opinion, with Stars 2007 release was that the songs didn’t fit. One track was an up-beat dancehall song, the next was down-tempo with only guitar and voice. As a bunch of one-off singles it might’ve made sense but for a record, it didn’t work for me. The Five Ghosts avoids that problem while still leaving lots of room for the band to play with different kinds of music and sounds. Haunting vocals singing about death and dying, over top of whatever kind of song it is, really brings this record together.
Overall, The Five Ghosts is a winning record. There aren’t any tracks that particularly stand out but then again I don’t think this was ever intended to be a singles album. It’s a cohesive and complete work. The production, with layers of creepy instruments and vocal tracks, gives the whole album exactly the feel I think the band was going for. And the song themselves are well-written and interesting. Stars, who ordinarily can muster up a pretty other-worldly sound for themselves, have done a great job putting together a whole album in that vein. While it might not be a favourite for people who aren’t already fans of the band, it’s certainly another great record in a collection of those who like them.
Meh. I thought it was alright. “Fixed” is a stellar track (find their performance of it on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon), but the rest didn’t *feel* like what I love about “Set Yourself on Fire”.