(Arts & Crafts/Shiny)

Canadian quintet follow up their breakthrough album with another glittering effort

The Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan-fronted Stars are at their most cohesive and confident on this, their fourth album. At times a lyrically darker and synth-laden version of fellow Canadians The New Pornographers, Stars share their compatriots’ ability to write stunningly gorgeous pop songs. Lush strings and additional instrumentation are utilised without being overwhelming, allowing the songs at the core to shine through every time. And what songs they are – from the near indie disco-soul of The Ghost Of Genova Heights to the gentle but scintillating pop of Window, Stars are comfortable leaping between genres without being disorienting. Campbell’s piano bar torch song Barricades is just as home here as Millan’s swingin’ doo-doo-doo number My Favourite Book. Even the album standouts, Personal and Take Me To The Riot, are poles apart musically – the former a heart-rendingly subtle duet detailing the ill-fated non-meeting of two lonely people using Personals ads; the latter an insanely catchy anthem-in-the-making with a brazen ‘fuck-you’ chorus of Saturday nights in neon lights / Sunday in the cell / Pills enough to make me feel ill / Cash enough to make me well. The trick is that Stars make it all seem like chapters in a sharp, sad, funny and ultimately hopeful story. The album-closing title track then finishes things perfectly, providing a rousing final chorus drenched in bittersweet orchestral beauty. Stars indeed, long may they shine.

****

TOPHER HEALY

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