Get out your striped off-the shoulder top, chunky accents and some eyeliner-if you have it. Stellastarr* hits a new wave artery with their sophomore album, Harmonies for the Haunted. Whether the album oozes with edge or is a hemorrhage of copy-cat tendencies is a worthy discussion. With its Cure-reminiscent ballads and full blown, unabashed homage to the best of '80s new wave, stellastarr* has a 21st century tenacity in a vein most recently tapped by such eyeliner favorites as The Killers.
While The Killers aim for kitsch and depend on their scream-a-long lyrics to keep the masses enthralled, stellastarr* played a more advanced card of ingenuity and created an album of rhythmic complexity and lyrical brightness with a refined, professional sound. Whether that passes as a success is another question.
Stellastarr* possesses a firm understanding of the music that they set out to create. The band echoes both The Pixies and Talking Heads. These bands' influences can be found throughout the album. In fact, stellastarr* frontman Shawn Christiansen's vocal yelps draw many comparisons to the Talking Heads' David Byrne.
However, when the originators of this reinvented new wave still releasing albums, it is hard for newcomers to be innovative. Stellastarr* tries its hardest to bring something exciting and new to the genre.
The band's effort manifests itself in \Sweet Troubled Soul"" and ""Damn this Foolish Heart,"" while ""On My Own"" is a softer and sweeter bit thrown into the mix.
But stellastarr* encounters problems on the latter half of the album. With such songs as ""When I Disappear"" and ""Love and Longing,"" they somehow lose their footing and hooks. They are left with tracks that are intrinsically generic.
Stellastarr* seems genuine in its exploration of this newest wave of new wave. While Harmonies for the Haunted starts off strong, it offers little of either to distinguish their latest efforts from those of their preceding albums.
Stellastarr* created a solid album in Harmonies for the Haunted, but the year is 2005, not 1985, and the creative bar is set higher this time around.
Telling a cautionary tale of what happens when trying to be somebody else, Harmonies for the Haunted is one album that outside-the-box 20-somethings should give a listen to. Not only does it point back to the decade they came from, but it directs them to the future of the decade they are coming of age in.
While stellastarr* found solace in a familiar place of creativity, perhaps they can challenge themselves to reach a little higher and to be truly original.
