{"id":41126,"date":"2008-09-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/sad-robots-ep\/"},"modified":"2008-09-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-09-26T00:00:00","slug":"sad-robots-ep","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/sad-robots-ep\/","title":{"rendered":"Sad Robots (EP)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Stars universe is a pretty wonderful place to be, at least on their latest disc. While their first two albums tipped a little too often towards overblown, the Sad Robots <\/i>EP seems to do the trick by compressing all that\u2019s invigorating about the Montreal-based group into six open-hearted, lush, electric-pop tracks.\u00a0 The title itself, Sad Robots, <\/i>succinctly <\/i>reflects the head versus heart sensibility this time around: coolly mechanized drum beats crash past swelling guitars, while Amy Millan\u2019s sweetly tentative voice meshes well as always with Torquil Campbell\u2019s more assured, enunciated style. It\u2019s all a little raw, with buzzing backbeats and the occasional stutter — refreshing, as Stars do occasionally lapse into the overwrought, sacrificing emotion to try and create anthems. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

The EP launches out unobtrusively, with an atmospheric instrumental, \u201cMaintenance Hall, 4 AM.\u201d Subtle drums and a graceful, almost hypnotic piano line mix with raw synths and a mumbling robot voice, and it lasts just long enough so as not to overstay its welcome. The opener may be lovely, but next up \u201cUndertow\u201d is breathtaking, easily the standout here. Millan\u2019s calm, breathy vocals are contrasted with a reverberated refrain, \u201cWhen will it stop?\u201d and the liveliness of the instrumentation — it\u2019s not peppy, for the most part, but there\u2019s a wonderful rhythmic bass solo and a bouncier guitar line to counter what are otherwise bleak lyrics (\u201cThe brittle and bitter bone (when will it stop?) \/ Forgotten how to grow\u201d). <\/o:p><\/p>\n

What sets Stars apart from every other buzzed-about indie act for me is the chemistry between Torquil and Millan, which is unfortunately underused. \u201cGoing, Going, Gone\u201d is the closest you\u2019ll get to standard-bearer \u201cYour Ex-Lover Is Dead.\u201d Millan is in fine form here, taking over for Metric\u2019s Emily Haines (whose version appears on 2001\u2019s Nightsong), <\/i>soaring and beautifully flawed as a woman trying to reclaim herself:\u00a0 \u201cEach penny numbs the pain, sends you gently for the fall \/ I followed you last night\u2026I knew it wasn\u2019t right,\u201d she sings as Campbell\u2019s voice weaves in, backed by shivering synths and hazy, dream-like drums. Campbell\u2019s vocals are a little too theatric here, but even that is forgotten by the time the song reaches its close as Millan repeats \u201cAll I see, all I see is me everywhere\u201d alone over slow-burning. This is good stuff — it hurts and it\u2019s gorgeous and it\u2019s human.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201c14 Forever\u201d is more standard Stars fare, as in it\u2019s good but not particularly memorable. It\u2019s the most upbeat you\u2019ll find here, all driving drums and shining harmonies, but the sunnier mood, the glossy nostalgia, seems out of place here. Still, Campbell is excellent at penning those uncannily resonant moments (\u201cI hear it in your voice, you’re tired of the summer \/ And deep inside your mind you hear a song of your heart \/ You\u2019ll keep me beside you ’cause it’s been too long now\u201d) that lift any track out of being simply run-of-the-mill. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Closing things off is another collision between stuttering electronic instrumentation and almost painfully raw lyrics on the disc\u2019s title track. Millan sings entirely in French, the refrain \u201cIl pleut, il pleut \/ Je pleure, je pleure\u201d backed by light plucking of an acoustic guitar, ripples of synths, and what sounds like sheets of rain pouring down. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

My overall impression of this EP is something I\u2019ve never really felt with Stars: it ends too soon. This is a band about to reach full bloom, and hopefully their next offering is as gorgeous and refreshing as Sad Robots <\/i>(and all this for a relatively paltry four dollars, available on http:\/\/sadrobots.ca\/<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":29535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7864],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-41126","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-stars","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41126"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41126"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}