Stars Album: “In Our Bedroom After the War”

The Canadian indiepop band Stars has never had a problem with crafting sad songs with shimmery music and pretty vocals, and this has definitely not changed in "In Our Bedroom After The War."

In fact, their fourth full-length album takes that tendency even further. Instead of a string of individual songs, it's a musical-style sequence of songs that seem to be about the sorrows of life and live during a war. With, of course, with lots of lush indiepop and murmury vocals.

It opens with a slow-building electropop tune that isn't quite catchy enough to make you pay attention. That is reserved for the swirling, dreamlike ballad "The Night Starts Here," a simple song with moments of insight ("You name your child/After your fear/And tell them/"I have brought you here").

Fortunately the songs that follow take after the latter than the former -- shimmery keyboard tunes, driving guitar-filled powerpop, exquisitely flickering ballads, and the discoey flavour of "Ghost of Genova Heights." Don't be fooled by its upbeat sound -- the concept is perhaps the most depressing one that Stars has ever done.

The album does stumble a bit in the second lap, with the warbly "Barricade" and forgettable "Window Bird," but fortunately it picks up after that. There's a brief spurt of colourful indie-rock, and swirling ballads, ending with the mellow, retrospective title track. It's a fitting finale, and saves the album from being TOO depressing.

On the first listen, "In Our Bedroom After the War" is basically the kind of chamberpop the band has been making for ages. Musically, much the same as their past work, save for a couple songs ("Bitches in Tokyo") where they dabble in new sounds.

And the band has a pretty polished sound at present -- there's lots of smooth guitar and clattery drums keeping the peppier songs moving. In the softer ones, they're woven with plinky piano, chimes, colourful streaks of synth and some dramatic strings.

But wait -- listen carefully. Each song is a little, bittersweet story -- fragmented love affairs, veterans' ghosts, even a doomed affair between two soccer hooligans. But no matter how dark the songs get, Amy Millan's vocals are still sweet, and Torquil Campbell's are still extremely dramatic.

It ends prettily happily, though, with a ballad all about the end of war, and realizing that the world has just become a bit brighter. "Yes, we're back again/Here to see you through til the day's end/And if the night comes, and the night will come/Well at least the war is over..."

"In Our Bedroom After the War" is a little musical journey on its own -- and despite a few dud songs, it's a journey worth taking. Definitely worth hearing.

In my quest to drag my music collection out of the 80's and into the latter half of this decade, Stars is one of the bands I've recently got my hands on. I bought Heart, Do You Trust Your Friends?, Set Yourself on Fire and In Our Bedroom After the War in one fell swoop.

With no preconceived ideas of "what they should sound like", "what they used to sound like", or how long-time fans judge album x versus album y, "In Our Bedroom..." rises to the top for me.

Stars flirt with electronic pop a tad more than lovers of the garden variety four piece indie bands will feel comfortable with, but beautifully blend their sometimes dark, sometimes conversational, lyrics with bright sounds ... violins, synths and very catchy indie hooks.

Perhaps the final dollop of freshness this album offers me over others in my collection is the use of two lead singers, Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan. The dialog between Campbell and Millan in "Personal" for example is sad yet brilliantly put together.

If you're thinking of a Stars starting point, "In Our Bedroom After the War" is bit different and very addictive.

For Stars, the nineties never happened. All members have metabolized the two pillars of 80s British pop-rock -- Smiths and New Order -- so thoroughly that they don't need to copy them, they just exude them. Prefab Sprout, Electronic, Sundays, Everything But The Girl, even Cure: the intelligent melodic music of Northern England is shimmering inside every song. On the other side, I bet that Campbell & Co. cannot locate Bristol on the map, and listen to Portishead or Tricky only when they are in wrist-slitting mode.

Why this long introduction? Because this heritage seems Stars' strength and weakness. At its best, the band has the innocence and urgency of a teen-ager finding the right words for the first time. "The Night Starts Here" and "Take me to the Riot" are memorable and enthusing. They sit of the wide shoulders of Bernard Sumner and Morrissey without plagiarizing them. There are many other songs that are pitch-perfect, efficient and honest. "My Favorite Book" and "Personal" are in this class. They are intelligent without being cerebral. But, when they are short on ideas, the songs flounder. They go on melodic 80s autopilot. I felt that "Bitches in Tokyo" and the titular song were enjoyable but gratuitous and detract from the overall experience. When you have 10 dry, powerful, needed songs from a Canadian rock band what you get is Neon Bible. Stars are not there yet. But they have potential for greatness, and they already have several excellent songs in their repertoire.

I heard that the band is very selective in its choice of material. I hope they could be just a bit more selective. It's just a matter of time until the perfect album.

"In Our Bedroom After the War" is an amazing album. The way that the album holds together is absolutely beautiful, and the idea of a war acts as a metaphor for a crumbling relationship. The musicianship is superb, the songwriting is very interesting and the lyrics give me chills every time. Amy Milan's and Torquil Campell's voice blend absolutely perfectly and there are few singers who have such a good sound singing together as they do. Every song is wonderful, but a few of my favorites include "Barricade" in which Campell sings solo with sparse piano accompaniment and really shows off his voice, "Personal" which uses awesome dialog lyrics alternating between the two singers to illustrate a failed attempt at internet dating, "The Ghost of Genova Heights" which is very catchy and features Campell doing a very Prince-esque pre-chorus and of chorus, the epic, closing title track which is filled with so much hope and energy. It is definitely different from their previous effort, featuring a more sparse sound and a return to prominence of keyboards over guitars. This album is absolutely beautiful and I don't know that I'll ever get tired of it.

The emotional heft of "Up In Our Bedroom After The War" is almost lost in the lighter than air pop that is Stars' stock in trade. Like Rilo Kily (without the interband entanglements) or Prefab Sprout (minus Thomas Dolby's production magic), the boy-girl trade-off between Amy and Torquil is reminiscent of such superb acts that the effortless pop almost passes you by.

But give the songs here enough listens, and they sink in. "Take Me To The Riot" has a sort of energetic naivete that brings a smile, while the finale layers on effect after effect - birds, waves etc - to crescendo the CD to a mighty close. (The atmospheric opener sets the stage nicely, too.) Torquil seems to be attempting a concept here, with lyrics that reflect a tumultuous relationship. Injected with giddy pop hooks and atmospheric production (but how I would love to hear this with Dolby's touch), "The Night Starts Here" and "My Favorite Book" echo vintage Fleetwood Mac. "Book" even sounds like Amy stashed a few Cardigans CDs in the booth, while "The Ghost of Genova Heights" feels like Scissor Sisters, with Torquil's falsetto echoing Jake Shears'.

There is also the occasional stinger that leaves its barb in place, like on "Personal." With just a single word change in the final verse, it trashes the internet dating bigotry where "no fats, no fems, no one over 35" type ads play to the shallowest common denominator. It is so subtle a cut that you may not even catch it until several spins on, like the way Morrisey, at his best, can kill you.

If any of those comparisons sound inviting to you, pick up "Up In Our Bedroom After The War." I doubt it will start a revolution, but at least Stars can claim Mission Accomplished and be honest about it.