Tag: Stars

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Vinyl

Vinyl love: Stars “In our bedroom after the war”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: Stars
Album Title: In our bedroom after the war
Year released: 2007
Details: Black vinyl, 2 x 180 gram

The skinny: After the brilliance of their third record, “Set yourself on fire“, I was firmly set among those wildly anticipating the next record. Canadian indie popsters Stars released “In our bedroom after the war” to digital stores the day after it was completed in an attempt to foil the leakers and pirates and then was issued physically two months later. If there was to be a complaint to be made about this fourth record, it would only be that it didn’t venture too far afield from the template of its predecessor… but I wouldn’t call that a bad thing. It is more ornate and literate chamber pop, calling to mind The Smiths and The Beautiful South, but perhaps slightly more slanted towards the dancefloor.

Standout track: “Take me to the riot”

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: Stars “Set yourself on fire”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: Stars
Album Title: Set yourself on fire
Year released: 2004
Year reissued: 2012
Details: Black vinyl, 180 gram, repress

The skinny: Fresh off seeing the Canadian indie pop collective last night at the  National Arts Centre with the house orchestra as support, and where they performed the song below, “One more night”, “Your ex-lover is dead”, and others off this very album, I thought I’d spread some Stars love this morning. Released in 2004, “Set yourself on fire” is likely still considered the band’s high water mark, despite releasing five very fine albums since and still touring regularly to appreciative audiences. This album, along with Arcade Fire’s “Funeral”, was a big part of the reason that the world turned their collective ears to Canada and we had an indie pop renaissance of sorts for a few years at the beginning of the 2000s. This is big, bold, and beautiful sounding chamber pop (which leant itself well to orchestra accompaniment last night) and an album that was amongst the first that I sought out after starting my fledgling vinyl collection.

Standout track: “Ageless beauty”

Categories
Tunes

100 best covers: #87 Amy Millan “I will follow you into the dark”

<< #88    |    #86 >>

…And speaking of Death Cab for Cutie… Here’s a cover by Stars vocalist Amy Milan of the standout single from Death Cab for Cutie’s fifth album, “Plans”.

The original was recorded by frontman Ben Gibbard by himself on guitar, using just the one microphone. The result is a quiet and lonely sounding number that is kind of morbid on first listen but is quite romantic upon further reflection. The idea that one loves the other so much that he or she would them even into death to keep them company is quite lovely. “I will follow you into the dark” didn’t originally chart very high as a single but has since become one of the band’s best-selling, still receives quite a bit of radio play, and has been covered many times over by various artists.

Canadian songstress Amy Millan covered it a mere four years after the original’s initial release for her second solo record, “Masters of the burial”. Hers is slightly longer than the original’s three minutes and markedly different in style and tone. A full band backs her. The use of banjo and lap steel giving it a decidedly old time country feel. Her soft touch on vocals is more upbeat than in Gibbard’s original but definitely lends the subject matter the weight it deserves.

“If Heaven and Hell decide that they both are satisfied
Illuminate the no’s on their vacancy signs
If there’s no one beside you when your soul embarks
Then I’ll follow you into the dark”

I am a fan of both of these. In fact, I refuse to pick a favourite. Thoughts?

The cover:

The original:

For the rest of the 100 best covers list, click here.