Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Dead Stars, Slumber, 2014

Album Review

It's like destiny for Dead Stars and me. I was sitting at my computer one day (Imagine!) when Allyson from Speak Into My Good Eye messaged me with a link to the video for Dead Stars' "Someone Else."

"I feel like they're right up your alley."

She was right.

Then, a few weeks later, I was talking to Ralph from Stuyvesant at a show. He was telling me about his trip down to South By Southwest this year and how he had seen Dead Stars. That same night, both Lysa and Tom from Overlake told me that they were going to be playing Dead Stars' record release show. And just this Friday, Sharkmuffin's Tarra Thiessen told me that she and her band would also be playing the release show for Dead Stars.

"They're great. You should come."

Now, there's hype and there's buzz, and then there's just a bunch of people whose opinions you trust making you feel like you have to check into something.

Slumber, the first full-length from the Brooklyn trio, is out today. It effectively mixes a couple of the things I'm always on about here: fuzzed out guitars and pop songcraft. My beloved Dinosaur Jr. are great at that, and there are some really lovely pop songs buried beneath all the fuzz of My Bloody Valentine. Dead Stars rely pretty heavily on some of the guitar sounds associated with both of those bands, but Jeff Moore's vocals are much clearer in the mix -- intelligible even -- than those of J Mascis, Bilinda Butcher, or Kevin Shields. That gives the songs on Slumber a poppy and accessible feel that makes the record one I could see myself coming back to all summer long.

The single Allyson sent me, "Someone Else," opens the record. The song has a familiar feel to it as it motors along on some fuzzy, bouncing, up-tempo riffs; and there's a nicely distorted guitar solo. Jeff Moore's vocals remind me a little bit of Pat Dinizio of the Smithereens.

"Walking Away" is a standout. From the opening lead guitar to the "glide guitar" that underpins the chorus, it -- again -- contains some classic sounds. So does "Wasted." The chorus is Jeff Moore's memorable guitar hook; and, together with the rhythm section of Jaye Moore and John Watterberg, it gives the track kind of a "driving song" feel. You know -- that thing where you turn up the song, roll down the window, and stick your hand out to let it glide on the wind.

Short, acoustic track "Older" is a break from the fuzz and distortion. It's a hopeful, Elliott Smith-influenced song about maybe being saved from our past by the right person.

Slumber is the latest entry in a recent string of records that are reviving the sounds of shoegaze. Dead Stars set themselves apart a bit by employing those sounds in the service of the three- and four-minute pop song instead of the atmospheric dronescape. That makes Slumber an interesting creation: a collection of songs driven, mostly, by heavily distorted guitar sounds that's also a great summer record.

Slumber is out now on Old Flame Records; and, as I mentioned, you can catch Dead Stars at their record release show with Overlake, Slothrust, and Sharkmuffin this Thursday at Brooklyn's Union Pool.

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