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Stars Hit The Auditory Sweet Spot On 'Bedroom'

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By CURTIS ROSS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 12, 2007

Tossing the word 'war' into an album title almost certainly signifies a political slant in 2007. But the key to Stars' fourth album is 'bedroom' - the battlefield on which the songs' morning-after and night-before skirmishes take place.

Stars works the war-as-love metaphor almost to the breaking point - not only in the lyrics but in the album's packaging and the cryptic liner notes essay, valuable mainly for verifying these Canadians' influences: Scritti Politti, New Order, Saint Etienne.

It's not a bad concept, actually, but it's dealt with such a heavy hand here that it can distract the listener from the album's, and Stars', primary strengths: great pop songs.

Like the aforementioned precursors, Stars drapes plaintive melodies in airy harmonies and tasteful production, creating songs that hit the auditory sweet spot with a vengeance. Most any song here could wear down a jaded pop fan's defenses in a single listen. You will surrender, hitting repeat play endlessly.

For all their smarts, though, Stars starts the album on shaky ground. The instrumental 'The Beginning After the End' portends importance (or just self-consciousness), but that balloon is burst by the sharp but slight 'The Night Starts Here.'

It's followed by 'Take Me to the Riot,' a failed attempt at the apocalyptic hand-wringing The Arcade Fire did so well on 'Neon Bible.'

'My Favourite Book' rights the course and it's smooth sailing from there, even when Stars ventures into potentially troubled waters, such as the classified-ad dialogue of 'Personal' or the Morrissey-styled romantic masochism of 'Barricade' ('Sweet and Tender Hooligan' recast as a callow anarchist).

Anyone who can resist the confectioner's funk of 'The Ghost of Genova Heights' or the pulse-quickening 'Midnight Coward' is not to be trusted and should be reported to the authorities immediately. Or perhaps they're just searching fruitlessly for a story line - pity them.

Download this: 'The Ghost of Genova Heights'

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