Stars – Sad Robots EP

13 September 2008, Allan @ 6:32 pm Stars Sad Robots EP

When I heard the Stars were releasing an EP, I wasn’t overly excited. I still had a bad taste left in my mouth from “In Our Bedroom After The War”. I felt that it was just a poor record and right now, I barely remember listening to the record altogether.

I went over to the Stars myspace page to listen to some of their songs on the EP only to be disappointed to see just a live track. The ad on the top is “great” with the big letters “Are You A Sad Robot?”. The ad sucks, even if I were sad/depressed what exactly is the point? Are the Stars going to somehow heal me or put a smile on my face? Last I checked they were either going to make me feel more regret with their amazing pop songs or make me want to kill myself with their poor quality. Besides that who would admit that they are robots? Robots aren’t sad because they are a robot. Robots are happy because they are robots.

I’m obviously over thinking things at this moment but the ad just did not inspire me to bother checking out the EP.

Other then the ad sounding overtly emo or melodramatic, I never found the Stars to be inspiring in that way. This record surely doesn’t have melodramatic written all over it. Instead, it sounds somber and almost restrained but still good.

The starting to this album sucks. For a pop band like Stars, we get an instrumental track (Maintenance Hall 4am) that is really just light piano work with random electronica/dance like noises. It’s not a bad song but with the next tack, the 30 second intro felt like a full hour. In general, it takes a little bit too long for the EP to pick up. The longest track “A Thread Cut With A Carving Knife” is almost 6 minutes long and it takes a full 3 minutes and a half to finally get Amy ~~Milian’s~~ Millan (why did I think it was Milian?) voice. Waiting 5 minutes for the best singer in the grounp is just way too long especially when Torquil Campbell’s vocals need to be carried (see After All That, Its Come To This by Amos the Transparent f. ~~Amy Milian~~ Amy Millan as fully utilizing her).

At least after the first two tracks, it picks up with Undertow. Vocals are sung mainly (or completely) by Millan who can light up a room with her lungs. The thing that really makes me gravitate toward this track is the autoharp-sounding (I can’t tell for sure) strumming. It really just adds a perfect element to a great song. I’m also kind of confused with the live track of “Going, going, gone”, the quality is great and it doesn’t have that live track features. There are no imperfections or rawness of a live session or the crowd singing along. Fundamentally it is a normal track that doesn’t sound like it is live. As a “live” track I guess I’m disappointed but it’s a solid track on its own.

The latter tracks are decent, with Sad Robot sung by Millan entirely in French. She has an awesome voice but musically I wasn’t feeling it.

There’s no real problem with this EP, it’s a solid collection of songs, though I would argue the 2 starting songss kind of suck. I like these tracks more then their previous LP which somehow made it on the short list for the Polaris Music Prize. It moves somewhat back into the direction of Set Yourself On Fire.

Rating: 3 out of 5
I still hate the ad though. I wasn’t sad nor a robot to enjoy this small record.

AWmusic