BLOWIN' INDIE WIND

Author: Emily Temple

Stars is yet another of Pitchfork's Canadian darlings, but don't let that turn you off. Like their friends and collaborators Broken Social Scene and Metric, these guys are actually good. I know Pitchfork slams Ben Folds. I know. They're crazy. I know. But sometimes they get it right.

"Set Yourself on Fire" (SYOF), Stars' newest album, opens with a scratchy PA system announcement. "When there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire," they sing. It's always nice when the message of an album is politely laid out for us, especially right at the start of the first track like that. So considerate.

This album is about passion - sex, pain, experiencing every moment of your life in all its possible glory. The band makes this clear throughout its work, particularly from the lyrics to its fan shout-out in the liner notes - "And you gentle listener...by the time you hear this the world might be ending, or beginning...whatever happens, BURN."

SYOF is a lush, grandiose symphony filled with keyboards, drumbeats, guitars, violins, a glockenspiel, a French horn, a trombone and more. Its layers of melodies build upon each other to create a constant, but pleasing, maelstrom of sound. Stars is a band much easier to listen to than some others that could be described by the word "maelstrom." The album resonates with a kind of menacing whimsy, mixing darkness and melancholy with electronic brightness and clever lyrics.

The band's musical and emotional decadence extends to its two lead vocalists, Amy Millan and Torquil (pronounced "torque") Campbell, who harmonize beautifully. How could you help being interested in hearing what comes out of the mouth of a man named Torquil? Better than the duo's harmonizing, however, are their discourses. Instead of always whining over a failed relationship or unrequited love, of which we hear so much these days, Millan and Campbell serve us with much more satisfying call-and-response lyrics. "On One More Night (Your Ex-Lover Remains Dead)," one of the best tracks on the album, Campbell and Millan take turns describing their return to a stale lust better left abandoned. It's one of those tracks that pulls at the stomach and really embodies the way the whole album makes you feel - nostalgic and lovesick, but hopeful.

There are few throwaway tracks. For instance, the single "Ageless Beauty" is overrated - it may be a good choice for a single in MTV land, but it is far from the best song on the album. Instead, should you read this and decide to download a couple Stars songs, choose "Your Ex-Lover is Dead," "One More Night (Your Ex-Lover Remains Dead)," "The First Five Times" and "Calendar Girl."

One more thing. At first listen it's easy to miss the political connotations in SYOF - you tend to focus on the sex - but pay attention. This album was recorded in 2004 during the uproar over the Iraq war, and several songs, especially a block of three towards the end of the album - "He Lied about Death," "Celebration Guns," and "Soft Revolution" - are clearly anti-administration. In an album as rife with passion and heat as this one, this sort of subject matter is to be expected. Campbell and the others have acknowledged various times that they enjoy keeping their political messages subtle, but "He Lied About Death" is a clear attack on Dubya ("an ape in a cage"? "a liar loves to lie"?) as Campbell whispers, "I hope your drunken daughters are gay." And that's a whole other kind of burn.