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Set Yourself On Fire
Montreal’s Stars have been busy of late. In addition to being a Broken Social Scenester, co-vocalist Amy Millan completed a solo album due to come out next Spring and Torquil Campbell put out the debut record for his side project Memphis at the end of this past Summer, but they still somehow found the time to write, record and release the third Stars album, Set Yourself On Fire.
The lushly orchestrated duet “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead” opens things up in classic Stars fashion, but from there the record takes a decidedly more aggressive bent (though aggressive in a very relative sense). There are far more guitars in play than in their past work and less synth work, and while this may disappoint some who were fond of the lovely chamber-pop of Heart, if it means getting more perfect pop moments like first single “Ageless Beauty”, it’s a worthwhile trade. There are a couple missteps, like the clumsy political screed “He Lied About Death”, but the high points outnumber the low.
Some may question their decision to sacrifice some of the twee-ness that defined their aesthetic early on in exchange for a more proper rock sound, but you can’t argue with as solid results as Set Yourself On Fire. The Stars play two shows at the Mod Club this weekend – a 19+ show on December 18th and an all-ages show on the 19th.