Customer Reviews

In Our Bedroom After the War

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I can remember where I was the first time I heard Stars. I was at my mundane little office job enjoying some internet radio when suddenly, amongst the typical and expected, came a song that immediately distracted me from the job I was supposed to be doing. It was not only beautiful, but touching, catchy, and - dare i say - perfect. The song was "Heart," the title track from Stars' 2003 breakout album. The song stuck with me, but I never really pursued my interest in the band. One day, about a year and a half later, I was in my local record store looking for something to buy. For some reason (providence, really), I thought of Stars, a band I hadn't heard in months. But the store didn't have any copies of "Heart," only their new album, "Set Yourself On Fire." Hmm? I wasn't sure. I scanned the barcode on the CD and previewed the first song on the album, "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead." I've been a Stars fan ever since. Their entire catalog is filled with effortless pop masterpieces, featuring brilliant songwriting, poignant imagery, and stellar production. Needless to say, my expectations for "In Our Bedroom After the War" were high. I am thrilled to say that I am not disappointed.

Stars albums have the habit of starting things off with an audio sample of a quote that typically reflects the title and mood of the album to follow. This one is no different. After a 2-minute synth introduction (reminiscent of "What the Snowman Learned About Death"), the voice of a older woman, audibly weathered by the years of her life, rises. She asks, "All the blood and the treasure and the losing it all, the time that we wasted and the place where we fall; will we wake in the morning and know what it was for up in our bedroom after the war?" It soon becomes clear that this is different than the typical carefree Stars album, and a far cry from their "Romantic Comedy" days.

The album hits its stride right out of the gate with "The Night Starts Here," a synth-heavy pop song with Amy and Torquil trading lyrics. It's sound is extremely reminiscent of the music off of "Heart," and for that I can't help but love it. The lack of a big, strong, satisfying hook is a bit disheartening, but this is a Stars album so you know that one is coming. As it turns out, we don't have to wait very long at all. "Take Me to the Riot" is one of the album's better tracks, and features Torquil shouting "Take me, take me to the riot" over guitars, strings, synths, and some surprisingly intense drumming. Of course, Amy is there softly singing along, adding a nice touch without overpowering. It's the album's first truly impressive track.

And boy do they keep piling them on! The next track, "My Favourite Book" is the first song that Amy takes charge of, pouring out her gorgeous vocals like honey (or, you know, something else that's sweet). They're accented by the excellent use of woodwinds and "do do dos" in the background. It's jazzy stylings are perfectly suited to the band, and I'm really surprised this is the first time that I've heard them play anything like this. The song is a gem that doesn't reveal it's true beauty at first, but grows on you over time. The same cannot be said for "Midnight Coward," an upbeat, yet poignant duet between Torquil and Amy. The two harmonize with one another, singing, "I can see what's coming, but I'm not saying it." Later in the song, when all the guitars and synths have gone, the two vocalists are left with only a piano to accompany their words. It is a highlight of the album and one of it's most beautiful moments.

"The Ghost of Genova Heights" is perhaps the most peculiar song I've ever heard from the band. It's verses are shoddily crafted, offering nothing really memorable musically or lyrically. In the chorus, however, the band takes a clear turn towards Michael Jackson-esque 80s pop. Torquil begins singing in an awesome falsetto, "I always see you when I never should. Now you're back in the neighborhood." I can't get it out of my head. Ultimately though, the song suffers because there's really not much to remember aside from the chorus. The band can't really even find a decent way to end the song. Fortunately, it's followed by "Personal," a "too-good-to-be-true" love song told through the communication of two singles through personal ads. I won't give away the ending, but it should be noted that this is without a doubt the saddest Stars song to date. The first time I heard it, I was visibly upset by what happens in the story. It is a powerful song, to be sure.

Unfortunately, the album really starts to struggle from there. "Barricade" is a simple piano ballad with a respectable performance from Torquil, but for some reason it doesn't feel very authentic to me. One of the signs of a good pop artist is that they can make anything sound real and true, but to me this song sounds manufactured and false. When Torquil sings "Meet me at the barricade, the love died but the hate can't fade," he's singing it well, but without true conviction. For a song that is so somber and emotional, Toquil is noticeably distant. "Window Bird" sounds like your run-of-the-mill indie rock song sung by a female, and Amy is completely underutilized. The same can be said for "B*tches in Tokyo," whose rockin' chorus is overshadowed by a complete lack of anything affecting or catchy.

"Life 2: The Unhappy Ending" is a step in the right direction, with Torquil and Amy contemplating the reality that life is not always as happy as it is in the films. Amy sings "Here's the part where you save me. Here is the scene where you save the day. Why can't the ending be happy? Why must it always resolve this way?" The song's lyrics and instrumentation are it's saving grace, as unlike most Stars songs, it's hook is far from memorable. "Today Will Be Better, I Swear!" is about what you would expect; reassurance that yesterday might have been good but today will be better. Again, the group struggles to find a reason for the song's existence as its lyrics and hook are poorly executed. Still, there is something admirable in the song's instrumental second half, if only for the fact that it reminds me of "The Big Fight."

For so many middle-of-the-road songs in the album's second half, "In Our Bedroom After the War" ends with what is arguably the best song the group has ever made and the album's title track. It tells the story of two lovers adjusting to life with each other in a post-war world, trying to capture the beauty in every second and remind themselves that they have each other. Torquil sings"Lift your head and look out the window. Stay that way for the rest of the day and watch the time go," before crying "The war is over and we are beginning!" The song ends with an eruption of instrumentation and vocals proclaiming "It starts up in our bedroom after the war! After the war!" It is simply stunning. I've listened to it over a dozen times now and I still get goosebumps every time. Personally, "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" is still my favorite Stars song, but this one comes in a close second.

When it's all said and done, I can't help but be happy with "In Our Bedroom After the War." While it's true that I could have done without 3 or 4 tracks, the album's highs brilliantly mask it's lows. "In Our Bedroom After the War" portrays a band coming to terms with the bleak and sorrowful world that we live in today; acknowledging that life and love is not always as bright and sunny as their past music would suggest. At the same time, however, the album is inexplicably hopeful despite the band's noticeable turn towards the dark side of life. If anything, "In Our Bedroom After the War" is a testament to the band's faith in humanity, in love. It leaves you feeling safe in a world of chaos, knowing that when it's all over there will still be love and we will still have each other.

Recommended for fans of Stars and anyone who needs hope.

Key Tracks:
1. "Take Me to the Riot"
2. "My Favourite Book"
3. "Midnight Coward"
4. "Personal"
5. "In Our Bedroom After the War"



7 out of 10 Stars

The Canadian indiepop band Stars has never had a problem with crafting sad songs with shimmery music and pretty vocals, and this has definitely not changed in "In Our Bedroom After The War."

In fact, their fourth full-length album takes that tendency even further. Instead of a string of individual songs, it's a musical-style sequence of songs that seem to be about the sorrows of life and live during a war. With, of course, with lots of lush indiepop and murmury vocals.

It opens with a slow-building electropop tune that isn't quite catchy enough to make you pay attention. That is reserved for the swirling, dreamlike ballad "The Night Starts Here," a simple song with moments of insight ("You name your child/After your fear/And tell them/"I have brought you here").

Fortunately the songs that follow take after the latter than the former -- shimmery keyboard tunes, driving guitar-filled powerpop, exquisitely flickering ballads, and the discoey flavour of "Ghost of Genova Heights." Don't be fooled by its upbeat sound -- the concept is perhaps the most depressing one that Stars has ever done.

The album does stumble a bit in the second lap, with the warbly "Barricade" and forgettable "Window Bird," but fortunately it picks up after that. There's a brief spurt of colourful indie-rock, and swirling ballads, ending with the mellow, retrospective title track. It's a fitting finale, and saves the album from being TOO depressing.

On the first listen, "In Our Bedroom After the War" is basically the kind of chamberpop the band has been making for ages. Musically, much the same as their past work, save for a couple songs ("Bitches in Tokyo") where they dabble in new sounds.

And the band has a pretty polished sound at present -- there's lots of smooth guitar and clattery drums keeping the peppier songs moving. In the softer ones, they're woven with plinky piano, chimes, colourful streaks of synth and some dramatic strings.

But wait -- listen carefully. Each song is a little, bittersweet story -- fragmented love affairs, veterans' ghosts, even a doomed affair between two soccer hooligans. But no matter how dark the songs get, Amy Millan's vocals are still sweet, and Torquil Campbell's are still extremely dramatic.

It ends prettily happily, though, with a ballad all about the end of war, and realizing that the world has just become a bit brighter. "Yes, we're back again/Here to see you through til the day's end/And if the night comes, and the night will come/Well at least the war is over..."

"In Our Bedroom After the War" is a little musical journey on its own -- and despite a few dud songs, it's a journey worth taking. Definitely worth hearing.

In my quest to drag my music collection out of the 80's and into the latter half of this decade, Stars is one of the bands I've recently got my hands on. I bought Heart, Do You Trust Your Friends?, Set Yourself on Fire and In Our Bedroom After the War in one fell swoop.

With no preconceived ideas of "what they should sound like", "what they used to sound like", or how long-time fans judge album x versus album y, "In Our Bedroom..." rises to the top for me.

Stars flirt with electronic pop a tad more than lovers of the garden variety four piece indie bands will feel comfortable with, but beautifully blend their sometimes dark, sometimes conversational, lyrics with bright sounds ... violins, synths and very catchy indie hooks.

Perhaps the final dollop of freshness this album offers me over others in my collection is the use of two lead singers, Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan. The dialog between Campbell and Millan in "Personal" for example is sad yet brilliantly put together.

If you're thinking of a Stars starting point, "In Our Bedroom After the War" is bit different and very addictive.

The emotional heft of "Up In Our Bedroom After The War" is almost lost in the lighter than air pop that is Stars' stock in trade. Like Rilo Kily (without the interband entanglements) or Prefab Sprout (minus Thomas Dolby's production magic), the boy-girl trade-off between Amy and Torquil is reminiscent of such superb acts that the effortless pop almost passes you by.

But give the songs here enough listens, and they sink in. "Take Me To The Riot" has a sort of energetic naivete that brings a smile, while the finale layers on effect after effect - birds, waves etc - to crescendo the CD to a mighty close. (The atmospheric opener sets the stage nicely, too.) Torquil seems to be attempting a concept here, with lyrics that reflect a tumultuous relationship. Injected with giddy pop hooks and atmospheric production (but how I would love to hear this with Dolby's touch), "The Night Starts Here" and "My Favorite Book" echo vintage Fleetwood Mac. "Book" even sounds like Amy stashed a few Cardigans CDs in the booth, while "The Ghost of Genova Heights" feels like Scissor Sisters, with Torquil's falsetto echoing Jake Shears'.

There is also the occasional stinger that leaves its barb in place, like on "Personal." With just a single word change in the final verse, it trashes the internet dating bigotry where "no fats, no fems, no one over 35" type ads play to the shallowest common denominator. It is so subtle a cut that you may not even catch it until several spins on, like the way Morrisey, at his best, can kill you.

If any of those comparisons sound inviting to you, pick up "Up In Our Bedroom After The War." I doubt it will start a revolution, but at least Stars can claim Mission Accomplished and be honest about it.

In Our Bedroom After the War
In Our Bedroom After the War is an excellent cd, though not as quickly "catchy" as previous albums. Multiple listens will, I suspect, make this a favorite of 2007. (Don't many great recordings share this trait of acquired taste?)
I highly recommend this cd to any Stars fan. If you're looking to purchase your first Stars cd, however, go for Hearts or Set Yourself on Fire.

After hearing "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" 2 years ago, I then quickly decided to buy "Set Yourself on Fire," because I figured that if they released such a beautiful song, the others must at least be halfway decent. After buying the CD, I was relatively impressed with the Stars' quirkyness and their quixotic approach to recording songs, but I was overall slightly disappointed. The songs were basically all the same, ostensibly just an attempt to weird out their listeners with awkward noises more than anything. But, after buying this CD on a whim, the Stars really hit the nail on the head with their "In Our Bedroom After the War."

After listening to the first song, "The Beginning After the End," I thought it was going to be the same old Stars and their weirdness manefested on yet another boring CD. However, after listening through the entire album, it honestly was a musical masterpiece. The piano throughout the whole CD feels like a sort of treat to the ears. Amy Millian's voice is so subtle but yet so outspoken, definitely one of my favorite sounds ever. The CD shows the Stars' wide variety of musical expertise and gifts the listeners with a beautiful sound pleasing in every way.

I highly suggest this album, it was without a doubt a very good choice.

"In Our Bedroom After the War" is an amazing album. The way that the album holds together is absolutely beautiful, and the idea of a war acts as a metaphor for a crumbling relationship. The musicianship is superb, the songwriting is very interesting and the lyrics give me chills every time. Amy Milan's and Torquil Campell's voice blend absolutely perfectly and there are few singers who have such a good sound singing together as they do. Every song is wonderful, but a few of my favorites include "Barricade" in which Campell sings solo with sparse piano accompaniment and really shows off his voice, "Personal" which uses awesome dialog lyrics alternating between the two singers to illustrate a failed attempt at internet dating, "The Ghost of Genova Heights" which is very catchy and features Campell doing a very Prince-esque pre-chorus and of chorus, the epic, closing title track which is filled with so much hope and energy. It is definitely different from their previous effort, featuring a more sparse sound and a return to prominence of keyboards over guitars. This album is absolutely beautiful and I don't know that I'll ever get tired of it.

Wow. This band never fails to amaze me.The whole CD didn't catch me on the first listen. It was actually not until the 3rd listen that the WHOLE CD caught me emotionally. Each track on this CD switches my emotions. One track can make me happy and the next track can make me feel mellow. For example, the track "Bitches in Tokyo" makes we want get off my a** and run a mile; the track "The Ghost of Genova Heights" makes me want to get up and do a dance; while "Today Will Be Better, I Swear" is as motivating as a therapist..lol. I must also mention that in this abum, there is not one track that is as fast-paced as the fastest paced tracks from the "Set Yourself On Fire" album. For most tracks in this album, the lyrics are more of a serious nature than the previous album.

As far as comparing Stars to other groups and mentioning who they sound like, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to compare them to anyone else and say they are influenced or similar to some other band/bands from history because who cares. They are Stars!... and as I said earlier about different emotions, each track on this CD is quite diverse. Stars catches your soul, entirely, and has you listening to them and only them. I am only concentrating on 'Stars' when I listen to them. I swear, the only thing you probably will care to notice and think about (besides the lyrics and the enjoyment of the background music) while you are listening to this CD is just the specific genre some tracks sound like, for example, 80's pop.

If you are already a fan of Stars' previous ablums, chances are you will also like this one. I would really love to see them live now.

Let me start by saying that I love this band, and I generally don't even like pop music. Stars is a bit different though. They have a depth and sentimentality that elevates them above typical pop music. Their lyrics actually have something to say most of the time, and the music provides an array of lush soundscapes that provide the setting to their stories.

At first listen, I found this album to be a bit bland. The second time around, a few songs caught my attention. Finally, at the third listen all the way through, it just clicked. I love this album now, and it's found its way into my CD player pretty much every day now for the past few weeks. In my opinion, the strongest tracks are "Take Me To The Riot" followed by the luscious "My Favourite Book." Things just keep rolling with the next track "Midnight Coward" and the 80s-tinged "The Ghost of Genova Heights." I just can't keep myself from smiling and singing in falsetto along to the uber-catchy chorus on this song. Track 8, "Barricade" offers up a hauntingly beautiful effort from singer Torquil Campbell. Track 9 is another highlight as Amy Millan offers up her beautiful voice to the song "Window Bird." Finally, the last track (#13) "In Our Bedroom After the War" brings the album to a dramatic close.

I love this album. I simply can't keep it out of my head. Stars is an exciting band in that every album they've put out is better than the previous one. I can't wait to see how they continue to evolve as songwriters. In summary, my favorite tracks are #3,4,5,6,8,9, & 13. The only tracks that I find uninteresting are the intro track, and the 7th track, "Personal." Other than that, this is a strong album all the way through.

"In Our Bedroom After the War" is the first Stars album that I'm listening to as a fan whereas their previous album, "Set Yourself on Fire" was the one that made me a fan. That makes this album gain a slight disadvantage since I might be biased and unfairly compare the 2. If there's anything that knocks Bedroom down a tad is that there isn't really that downright classic Stars track from pop hit Ageless Beauty or the emotive Calendar Girl or even something as simple as the endearing Sleep Tonight. However, Bedroom in a way has a tone that makes it a bit more harder to hate yet not as easy to love.

The album starts off with "The Beginning After the End" which is probably one of the most weirdly catchy instrumentals I've heard lately. Predominantly synth driven, it's got hummable melodies and a strangely relaxing beat. Only thing that knocks it down a tad is the prerequisite quote that references the album title. From there we get the first song released on the net, "The Night Starts Here", which has vocalists Amy Millan and Torquil Campbell trading verses. It's a nice song but it doesn't really take off and it's main hook isn't as huge an impact.

The record shifts between songs mainly sung by Campbell (the catchy single "Take Me to the Riot", the iffy "Barricade" or the climactic title track), Millan by herself (the lovely jazzy track "My Favorite Book", the likable rock track "Window Bird" or the heavy "B****es in Tokyo"). You notice Millan is amazing at solo tracks while Campbell is alright but you notice Amy's way better at showing emotional range. But then again, Campbell's more "flat" vocals are perfect for personal ad song "Personal" with Campbell playing the distant male and Millan playing the hopeful female.

Included with the album is a 55-minute documentary which has backstage looks at the tour behind "Set Yourself on Fire" and includes several live performances including a lovely "Calendar Girl" rendition and "Celebration Guns" set against fireworks. My only complaint is that my favorite tracks from the last record; them being "Sleep Tonight" and "One More Night" aren't included. Boo.

It doesn't really have massive radio hits but for Stars fans it should be a welcome album to listen to. Just know that it might not have the immediate effect so give it time to sink in.