Music Review: Stars - The Five Ghosts

Stars has been on the rise since they started, continually crafting albums that surpass their previous endeavor in every way, even when you thought it impossible to do. That shows in the reviews given to their releases by well-known sites like Pitchfork; That is, until they took a slight stumble with their last release, In Our Bedroom After the War. At least, that's what Pitchfork would have you believe.

I very much disagree, and see that album as yet another step up on the ladder of great CDs. Still, the lead singer, Torquil Campbell, apparently took the review hard as he wrote an aggravated myspace blog about it (which seems to have since been taken down or I'd be quoting from it). I think that kind of shows in the direction of this album, and while it isn't really a bad thing, it saddens me a little.

Set Yourself on Fire was an amazing pop rock album, but In Our Bedroom was deeper, for me. It flowed well from beginning to end, and felt like an epic, somber journey with a hopeful finale. I loved it. The Five Ghosts reminds me more of Fire, and while that is wonderful, it wasn't entirely what I was hoping for. But that being said, I listened to it four times today alone.

If you've never heard of Stars and you want to know what pop rock music should be, then you should definitely pick up this CD. You could probably call them emo if you had a very literal idea of what that term means, as most of their music gives a bittersweet feeling of remorse over lost loves or other sad life situations. Yet, Stars somehow still manages to make you tap your foot at the same time. Ghosts is somewhat devoid of the really slow songs which I loved from Bedroom, but I was perfectly content with a Set Yourself on Fire Part 2. I just would have preferred a sequel to In Our Bedroom After the War.

A quick parting thought: While a lot of the songs I liked most from Bedroom featured Torq on the primary vocals, the best songs from The Five Ghosts are very Amy Millan-centric. I wonder if she wrote more of them than normal, or if their writing process somehow changed since their previous releases. Hmmm, anyway.

Score: 4 out of 5
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