SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: STARS – FROM CAPELTON HILL

Stars
From Capelton Hill
Last Gang Records

OK. Montreal’s Stars are a pop band. They say it so themselves. Loud and clear. Those listeners having issues with pop music may just as well forget about Stars.

Yet, if you don’t differentiate between whether something is pop, rock, or some other genre, but only if something is good, bad, or brilliant, you just might want to pick up Stars latest album, From Capelton Hill. It certainly falls into that brilliantly complex category.

Those who go out of their way to avoid pop miss one crucial point – making an excellent pop song, and even more so a set of pop songs, is possibly one of the hardest things to do in modern music. Why?

You have a set of formulas you have to abide by, which gives very little space to be inventive – your song or songs have a time limit of up to some three and half minutes, it/they must have a very catchy melody, a rhythm that is danceable or on a verge of being danceable (fast or slow dance, take your pick) and as perfect playing and production as is possible.

As always, on From Capelton Hill, Stars manage to tick all of the above pop formula boxes almost (and often) to perfection — and they are proud of it. Rightfully so.

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