Stars - No One Is Lost
No One Is Lost
Stars
Tiger Rating: 5.5 / 10
Indie Pop
Stars have gone disco. How unexpected. And whilst I have a particular passion for artists who change it up and explore new ground, I also recognize that that is always a gamble and that sometimes it doesn't pay off. In this case, 'No One Is Lost' sounds like a band trying to sound like a band. More specifically it sounds Stars trying to be Arcade Fire. The new dancey Arcade Fire. The problem with that is obviously Arcade Fire only *just managed to get away with traveling down the disco road.
I have always been in two minds about this band. The two main vocalists - Amy and Evan - compliment each other so well (not unlike Butler and his wife in AF), but when the songs are done by either Amy OR Evan (as is mostly the case here), the project loses it's focus. See Amy is sugary, sweet indie. Her vocals are effortless but can be boring ('No Better Place'). Evan brings a Morissey kind of darkness and bittersweet gloom to the mix, which compliments Amy's sweetness, but his concepts for songs are
I N C R E D I B L Y cheesy and he often writes about the same thing ('The Stranger'). Over dramatic and toe curling. They balance each out perfectly. So I have liked and disliked this band since their debut. When they get it right it's absolutely incredible. Otherwise they're forgettable.
In the past, a lot of their concepts have been over-developed (In Our Bedroom After The War) or just not developed well (Five Ghosts). A gloomy disco is just oxymoronic or schizo. If they are to better realize their vision they need to be willing to let go of some of the elements that make a cohesive vision unwieldy. There is disco ('From The Night'), a half hearted stab at EDM ('You Keep Coming Up'), some full on New Wave ('Are You OK?') and even a country tinged track rearing it's ugly head unexpectedly towards the end of the album ('Look Away'). They save the title track for last, and it's a tentative return to the roller disco dancefloor.
It may be their most adventurous and lighthearted album to date, and I really do appreciate that. But it still feels like we're waiting to hear the band that wrote 'Set yourself On Fire'. Where are they? They had a great career trajectory. This band have spun out of orbit and not in a great way.
WVS
I have always been in two minds about this band. The two main vocalists - Amy and Evan - compliment each other so well (not unlike Butler and his wife in AF), but when the songs are done by either Amy OR Evan (as is mostly the case here), the project loses it's focus. See Amy is sugary, sweet indie. Her vocals are effortless but can be boring ('No Better Place'). Evan brings a Morissey kind of darkness and bittersweet gloom to the mix, which compliments Amy's sweetness, but his concepts for songs are
I N C R E D I B L Y cheesy and he often writes about the same thing ('The Stranger'). Over dramatic and toe curling. They balance each out perfectly. So I have liked and disliked this band since their debut. When they get it right it's absolutely incredible. Otherwise they're forgettable.
In the past, a lot of their concepts have been over-developed (In Our Bedroom After The War) or just not developed well (Five Ghosts). A gloomy disco is just oxymoronic or schizo. If they are to better realize their vision they need to be willing to let go of some of the elements that make a cohesive vision unwieldy. There is disco ('From The Night'), a half hearted stab at EDM ('You Keep Coming Up'), some full on New Wave ('Are You OK?') and even a country tinged track rearing it's ugly head unexpectedly towards the end of the album ('Look Away'). They save the title track for last, and it's a tentative return to the roller disco dancefloor.
It may be their most adventurous and lighthearted album to date, and I really do appreciate that. But it still feels like we're waiting to hear the band that wrote 'Set yourself On Fire'. Where are they? They had a great career trajectory. This band have spun out of orbit and not in a great way.
WVS
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