Stellastarr* - 'Somewhere Across Forever' (20-20)
4/5
By: Toby L
One of the names commonly circulating as potential forerunners for the year ahead, Stellastarr*'s worthy, excited welcoming marks a significant convergence into a new sector for the present, modern-day trappings of the 'alt-music' scene.
And, amusingly, it's not entirely new as such. 'Somewhere Across Forever', the band's first UK offering, brings with its name three tracks of captivatingly frivolous and thoughtful grandeur, enough to silence critics over the notion that NYC acts are currently being produced on a sound-a-like, identikit treadmill. Instead, this is intelligent, well-calculated indie-rock at its most expressive, not at all compromising its immediacy, more cutting-edge 80's than experimental 21st Century.
The lead-track is a male-female intertwining piece of bubblegum-pop meets daring distortion and harmonic keys, all Black Francis exclamations and pretty guitar-parts, whilst 'School Ya' is a five-minute epic: sweeping, downbeat and immensely adorable. Potently obscure yet instantaneous in the same breath, prepare to greet one of the debuts of 2003.
Artists in this article: Stellastarr*
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