The Canadian band Stars has been around for just about a decade now, and releases their fifth studio album, The Five Ghosts, next Tuesday, June 22nd. Stars is known for their distinct eloquent sound which features soft electronic pop elements as well as pairing male vs female vocals as Torquil Campbell and Amy Millian trade verses back and forth. Although the group has yet to rise to the upper echelon of indie-stardom, their discography stands pretty solidly. Of their 4 previous albums, their lowest score as rated by Pitchfork Media is a 7.4 (which is really good considering how extremely inconsistent Pitchfork can be).
I am not familiar with Stars' first two albums, but I think that The Five Ghosts certainly stands about on par with the last two albums and should once again earn them high ratings and reviews. That being said, Stars' last album, In Our Bedroom After the War, is definitely my favorite Stars album, although that was the one that earned them their lowest Pitchfork score of a 7.4... so what do I know? The biggest difference on the new album is that there is much more Amy singing than ever before, front man Torquil Campbell explained to Seattle Weekly "My secret dream has always been to completely eliminate myself from the
band. I would like to make a whole Stars record with nothing but Amy singing. I don't really like my singing, and I really like Amy's singing. ... Amy does sing a lot more on this, and I think it makes the record better."
My reception to The Five Ghosts is that I have totally loved a few songs on it, but I have not yet been impressed by the album as a whole as much as I was with In Our Bedroom After the War. Even though I agree with Campbell that Amy has a, technically speaking, better singing voice, one of my favorite elements of Stars' music is the back and forth singing that takes place between both Torquil and Amy; maybe it is the reduced presence of that on Five Ghosts that has caused me to not like it quite as much as In Our Bedroom After the War.
To hear the album for yourself before the release next Tuesday, you can stream the album in it's entirety from NPR here. Or for just a smaller sample of the new album, below is the song "We Don't Want Your Body" which I found to be one of the stand out tracks of the album:
Coachella announced their 2012 show lineup today, with plenty of hoopla from fans and haters alike.For the first time, it will be held on two consecutive weekends, and will feature headlining performances from The Black Keys, Radiohead, and a collaboration between Dr. Dre and Snoop Dog.Full lineup details…See More
T-PAIN vs. Chocolate Drop is the new hot shiat! T-Pain goes hard at my midget Chocolate Drop but The Drop... drops T-Pain. Album in stores soon, who really cares tho. Peep game…See More
A blog post by Chito Tafy was featuredNov 22, 2011
So this dude Ed Bassmaster is pretty entertaining. From LOOK AT THAT to accidentally buying "Black Ops" instead of 'Black Cops' dude is on point. The Bassmaster lives in Philadelphia with his wife and son and finds inspiration in everyday items like bubblegum, daisy dukes, and…See More
Watch this tribute to Steve Jobs. Filmed live last Wednesday at the Cupertino, CA Apple campus, the technology juggernaut paid homage to their fallen leader. Amongst the notable speakers to pay tribute…See More
Your favorite Pro Skateboarder and our good friend Antwuan Dixon is back with his newest show, ANTWUAN DOES. We know Antwuan has the best style in skatebaording and that he is the best but let's see how he stacks up on a BBQ and in a game of soccer with Furby that will be…See More
A blog post by Chito Tafy was featuredOct 24, 2011
The Canadian band Stars has been around for just about a decade now, and releases their fifth studio album, 
You need to be a member of Havoc Television to add comments!
Join Havoc Television