Stars – Sad Robots EP
What music lover doesn’t appreciate a perfectly appropriate album title?
Stars’ latest EP, Sad Robots is laced with beautifully arranged digital noise that sound like the whale cries of the robotic depressed. Oddly enough, that’s a compliment.
The six track digital release is anchored by slick piano melodies that form the foundation of a warmly-produced extended play that could have been the soundtrack to Tom Cruise’s Vanilla Sky.
The music really begins with the second track, “A Thread Cut With A Carving Knife.” Here, the earnest, melodic voices of the Canadian 5-piece pop outfit begin their glide over often distracting and often brilliantly arranged sound effects, including heavy computerized bass. Each track is accented by bright, static-y notes that rise above a fog that clears as each verse progresses.
Following a third track, “Undertow” that seems a step-by-step handbook to how awesome Stars can be, they send you to the fourth track, “Going, Going, gone,” which was recorded live. It features haunting vocal interplay backed by dark, heavy keyboarding that lets up only after you’ve been suffocated a bit.
Let’s face it, there are plenty of bands who show proficiency with the synthesizer, frequently employ heavy vocal filters and can hold a note, but precious few have anything interesting to say. Nobody is looking for some poetic incarnation of the Drake equation, but catching a certain mood can be an equally fulfilling intellectual journey. And this is an awesome mood.
In the fifth track, “14 Forever” Stars sings, “The revolution starts in a sea of paper cuts/ You look behind us when you cheer for someone else/ I’m the only lover you can keep up on the shelf,” as part of another back and forth with Amy Millan’s innocent vocals reminiscent of the best and worst parts of high school love: “I remember on the sidewalk as I dived into the hills/ You singing on the sidewalk as I told him that I will/ that song again the alleyway takes me to my door/ I’ll be back for more.”
Poetry that leaves you something to think about is 80% of replay value – too bad much of it is obscured in this EP by overbearing filters. It’s a common syndrome amongst indie bands: You’ve got a beautiful voice, so turn town the reverb a couple notches.
Nonetheless, if you’re looking for a collection of catchy beats topped by well-layered sonic experimentation and pitch-perfect harmonies, Stars’ Sad Robots EP is worth a buy.
$4 BUY IT HERE | VISIT THEIR MYSPACE
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