Markasaurus

This latest album from one of Canada’s finest bands comes as a surprise, as it wasn’t originally due for another two months. The band decided to release it to the internet almost immediately after they finished production. I have enjoyed each release since Nightsongs was released in 2001, and their live show at Bimbo’s in San Francisco rates among the best shows I’ve ever seen (including seeing the Cure, the Buzzcocks and the Tragically Hip at the Eden Festival at a racetrack in rural Ontario). Stars makes beautifully elegant indie-pop, occasionally showing electronica influences and often veering into clear Smiths/Morrissy territory (they covered “This Charming Man” on their first album!).

In Our Bedroom After the War strikes a fairly consistent tempo throughout and is dominated by the vocals of singers Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan. While previous albums seemed more dependent on the instrumentation and melody, this album is held together by very bare-sounding (but beautiful) voices.The song “Barricade” consists mostly of a simple piano part with Torq’s voice singing over it (a clarinet (?) and a sound sample come in at the very end), and both “Midnight Coward” and “Personal” feature male/female back and forth vocal parts reminiscent of some of the band’s earlier work. I also have to say that at times, particularly during “The Ghost of Genoa Heights”, it almost starts to sound like 1980s soft rock.

“Bitches in Tokyo” breaks free of the tempo set by the rest of the songs on this album, with loud guitars and crashing symbols letting loose as the song explodes. It’s the one song I can imagine the crowd dancing to at a concert (and maybe some jumping around during “Take me to the Riot”).

There is less reliance on obvious electronic instrumentation here than on Stars’ previous albums. It also does not seem like a natural sequel to 2004’s Set Yourself on Fire but it is by no means a letdown. Much like some of Morrissey’s recent output (think You are the Quarry) the album is good and will probably get better with each listen, but nothing on it stands out immediately. Maybe after a week of listening I’ll have a favourite?

The final track ends is the grand ballad “In Our Bedroom After the War” with the line repeated again and again “the living are dead and the dead are all living.” Conflating war and romance (one of the band’s favorite themes) the song alludes to fact that in war now there is never an “after the war” because the war never ends.

If you’re already a Stars fan, go and download this today (the CD doesn’t hit stores until September 25th). If you’re not a Stars fan yet, I suggest listening to Nightsongs and Set Yourself on Fire first. This album falls somewhere in the middle of the two stylistically and slightly behind them qualitatively.