Shop our Big Takeover store for back issues, t-shirts & CDs
Follow The Big Takeover
If you only knew this Nashville trio from their 2005 seven-song Twilight Dim, recorded as a then-Chicago-based foursome, you might do a double-take upon hearing Star (which the band bills as its debut full-length, despite Twilight’s 31-minute run time). For as their similarly-styled, vivacious 2012 Scale Model EP showed, they’ve completely overhauled their sound, from Twilight’s moody and meandering, two-guitar atmospheric rock into more dynamic and direct, synth-fueled dance-pop. The one recognizable constant is heavenly-voiced frontwoman Megan Rox, whose honeyed, high-register lilt is still clear, commanding, and comforting. Though Rox has discarded her guitar for wheezy yet beaming, new wave-inspired keyboards, original axeman David Johnson compensates with redoubled doses of shimmering, soaring leads, while drummer Steve Cross bolsters each song with his steady, stout beats. (Perhaps as a subtle homage to Tanya Donelly’s Belly, Star usurps the same lettering design on its album cover’s title as that band’s 1993 debut LP!)
If you missed the EP, three of its five songs make return appearances. The ascending “Airstream in Space” and the edifying “Do It Tonight” seem little changed, except for some production touch ups. But the alluring closer “Impression” has gained in pace and potency, with its ethereal, shoegazey midsection morphing into a colossal, crushing crescendo. Though I wish they’d found room for the EP’s cheerful, chirpy “Ground Beneath My Feet,” Star’s six new tunes show no drop-off in quality. The chugging, buzzy “El Cheapo” finds Rox pondering a lost love (and singing a few verses in French), while “Live it Up” is an affectionate after-work anthem about millennial merrymaking and hipster happy hours. Elsewhere, the strings-speckled “Don’t Know Why” and the dreamy, drifting “Hang On” find Rox acting as a sympathetic shoulder to lean on, employing her elevating, consoling croon to pacify anguished acquaintances. Two back-to-back pulse-propellers seal the deal: the Editors-like “You Can Be a Star” is bracing and dramatic, while the skipping, stately standout “Plato’s Cave” is equally exhilarating, highlighted by Johnson’s oscillating guitar blasts.
Though the original nine-song album came out in April, its September-released “deluxe edition” tacks on five DJ remixes of three LP songs. As is often the case with such dancefloor-minded remakes, none of them better the human-drummed originals, which are already designed to stimulate booty-shaking. But all are inventively rendered and enjoyable for EDM aficionados, especially those that most accentuate Rox’s vocals, like Cyclist’s version of “Live it Up” and The Leech Boyz’s revamp of “Do it Tonight.” (scalemodelmusic.bandcamp.com)
