Pitchfork

The new Stars album starts here. Three years after 2004 slow burner Set Yourself on Fire, and shortly after a listener-unfriendly remix album, the Montreal five-piece invite us to Our Bedroom After the War. Judging by advance mp3 "The Night Starts Here", they've gotten an even bigger room. Mixed by Joe Chiccarelli (Morrissey, the Shins, the White Stripes), the track broadens the previous album's orchestral scope, opening with wide-screen synths and the hushed back-and-forth of singers Amy Millan and Torquil Campbell. "Forget your name, forget your fears," they suggest, mentioning something about angels, while some low-frequency distortion revs up to reach those of us in the cheap seats. It's heart-swelling stuff, but record-buyers will have to wait until this fall to see how Stars have decorated the rest of their post-war Bedroom.

MP3:> Stars: "The Night Starts Here"
[from In Our Bedroom After the War; due 9/25/07 on Arts & Crafts]