The glimmer takes it all
They're unheralded heroes of Canadian rock, purveyors of slinky indie-pop and swooning torchsongs about gay football hooligans. Say hello to Stars, the other great band from Montreal.
Paul Nolan, 21 Feb 2008
Stars have been right to the fore in the great flowering of Canadian musical talent over the past few years. The group‘s latest offering, In Our Bedroom After The War, is their most accomplished work to date, a lyrically intriguing and musically inventive collection of tunes that bears comparison with the best output of Broken Social Scene, Feist, et al. Have the band noticed that the increased level of interest in the Canadian indie scene has dramatically bolstered their profile?
“For sure,” replies vocalist Amy Millan (who is also a member of Broken Social Scene), seated in the Crawdaddy bar on the day of Stars’ superb recent show in Tripod. “There’s a good spin on it for journalists, to talk about the Canadian scene. What’s funny is that it all gets kind of mixed up; they stopped talking about Toronto and sort of focused in on Montreal, because of Arcade Fire, I think. But Broken Social Scene are from Toronto, and there are a lot of great Toronto bands.
“I definitely think the reason that a lot of us have been able to come to Europe and be heard is that we have some great grants. It’s incredible to think that the government is helping you to come over here and drink a bunch of Jameson's, it’s pretty weird. But it’s a good thing.
“Basically, what’s happening is that it’s generating income; we actually employ a lot of people on tour. And in turn, we pay taxes which help other bands without any money to go out on the road. It’s really fantastic, it’s actually one of the great things left, although it may not last much longer with the current economic situation.”
Many reviewers have discerned an overall narrative on In Our Bedroom After The War, which appears to have a post-apocalyptic setting, but Amy maintains that the group didn’t have a particular concept in mind when writing the album.
“People have mentioned that post-apocalyptic setting, but I really disagree,” she says. “I think it’s a nice idea that we would all sit down and neatly plan out the record, but that doesn’t leave room for subtleties. Because the album has the title In Our Bedroom After The War and there are songs called ‘Take Me To Riot’ and ‘Barricade’, you might on the surface think that there’s an over-arching story.
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