Stars - In Our Bedrooms After The War Review

Canadian romantics Stars scaled the heights on the last LP, Set Yourself On Fire. It was, indeed, the embodiment of the band's mantra: perfectly measured, beautifully played music delivered with the kind of emotional gravitas it deserved. Does their follow up, then, pale in comparison?...full text For Canadian romantics Stars, love is war. And their modern love is strikingly similar to the world's modern war: confusion and anxiety topped with a sense of semi-staged dread. The presentation is great-- clean production, fine instrumentation, and careful arrangements-- but its undercurrent is pure self-doubt and longing. So while the quintet pushes its passion-based politics to the fore and includes the phrase "after the war" in the title of its fourth album, the emphasis is still "in our bedroom." Assuming you can dodge enough bullets to make it there....full text The Canadian dream-pop ensemble Stars took everybody by surprise with 2004's Set Yourself on Fire, probably even themselves. It was sonically expansive, labored, on the psychedelic side, but what seemed like just another kaleidoscopic headphone record turned out to hold one powerhouse song after another. In Our Bedroom After the War is mellower, without so much of the emotional turmoil that seethed under the surface of Set Yourself on Fire....full text