(Arts & Crafts, 2007)

I had to restart this review about six times. Initially, I had planned on ranting about how I’m not really a Stars fan—that I just buy their albums by force of habit, absent-mindedly forgetting that I don’t care for the melodrama that sometimes drips from certain tracks. But, with each successive listen to their 2007 release, In Our Bedroom after the War, I scrapped my intro and started again, as the album began to infiltrate and subdue my stubborn intentions. That’s not to say that this isn’t a typical Stars record—it is—and Stars are gushy, so if you’re going into In Our Bedroom after the War expecting to hear something different then you might as well keep walking. However, they are also excellent songwriters who have a knack for dishing out upbeat tracks laden with addictive hooks that help to ease the ingestion of all that love—like a spoonful of sugar to help the, well…sugar, go down.

Thankfully, In Our Bedroom after the War is ripe with examples of this talent. In fact, this latest release is arguably their strongest to date, as it contains more standout tracks than previous albums while also functioning coherently as a whole. Songs like “Bitches in Tokyo” and “Midnight Coward” echo the assertive success of Heart’s “Elevator Love Letter” while both the title track and “Today Will Be Better, I Swear” hearken back to the slow-burn seduction of Set Yourself on Fire’s “Calendar Girl.” Fans of Metric’s Grow up and Blow Away will no doubt also enjoy the slightly subdued “Window Bird.”

I wouldn’t say that this album is perfect by any means, but it does stand up well to repeated listens and many of my initial grievances with it dissipated by the third or fourth spin. Of course, I had a bit of a negative bias going in, as I’m no fan of Torquil Cambell’s infuriating delivery, but it is usually tolerable when playing sidekick to Amy Millan’s smooth and effortless vocal style. The only time it really presents a problem is in songs like “Barricade,” a stripped-down number in which Campbell is alone at the piano emoting as though on a Broadway stage (he is, incidentally, also a stage actor). That said, this is a minor gripe, as the song provides an interesting change of pace for the diverse album. Not to mention that the British-Canadian vocalist more than makes it up to me on the upbeat and undeniably catchy chorus of “The Ghost of Genova Heights,” a song that shares a disco-vibe with the album’s standout, the Millan-voiced “My Favourite Book.” The chorus to the latter, while seemingly familiar, is simply unstoppable and the track itself stands among their best to date.

At their worst Stars can come across as kitschy and drenched in melodrama, but at their best they are the equivalent of listening to a full-on, indie-rock Care Bear stare that attacks and subdues without remorse. Revelling in the acceptance of their more heartfelt inclinations, they are on top of their game when able to temper this gushiness with a solid foundation of accessible melody, a dynamic well represented on this latest effort. Stars fans everywhere can rejoice in a worthy addition to their already lush discography.

Listen to “The Night Starts Here” now or download it here.