"Set Yourself on Fire" By Stars

Week 1 of the "New to Me" Album hunt kicks off with a suggestion from Mr. Owen Lowery.

Set Yourself on Fire by Stars

Set Yourself on Fire debuted in 2004, and is the third album by Canadian Indie band Stars. The thirteen track album features the familiar sounds of indie rock creatively interspersed with rich orchestral textures and electronic layers. While the use of so many different sounds makes it difficult to pigeon-hole the album, it often bears the classification of "Orchestral Pop." Indeed most of multi-genre infusions are extremely well incorporated but at times the transitions between indie pop sounds and electronic riffs lack continuity and seem overworked. Since I am not familiar with the bands earlier albums it is hard to say whether or not this is their first attempt at such experimental combinations or if it is part of their usual aesthetic. Criticisms aside, Set Yourself on Fire excels through songs that stick to more conventional approaches and propel the lyrics to their full dramatic potential.

The album opens with the epigram...

"When there is nothing left to burn you have to set yourself on fire"

As I'm sure it was intended, these words stayed in the forefront of my mind throughout my listening. They possess a haunting quality that forewarns of the emotional depths that emerge as you dig into the album's core.

The album is a road-map of past relationships whose songs carry us to cathartic destinations; stirring joyous and painful memories alike. It is a proper soundtrack for the hopeless romantic expecting to find solace in sentimental lyrics and tales of relationships that were as beautiful as they were flawed.

As the first track on the album, "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" captures its spirit by telling of two lovers who meet after a long separation only to discover in unapologetic fashion that their love has died. It is a musical celebration of that moment when you realize that you have grown beyond your ex-lover and can accept with calm resolve that something, once beautiful, has come to a deserved end. Strings and brass evoke a jazz-like feel that blossoms into an electronically infused pop ballad continuously grounded by the cello's arpeggiated theme. The vocal chemistry between lead singers Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan is not only a highlight of the album but also a dramatic compliment to its first song. They take turns telling the story from their individual perspectives and join together in harmony to proclaim "live through this and you won't look back." The songs that follow seem to take us back in time to moments that preceded this last encounter. "Sleep Tonight" hypnotizes with synthesized sounds and "The Big Fight" and "He Lied about Death" fire us up reminding that in music, frustration and angst are best expressed with dissonance and wicked guitar riffs.


Other Standout/Favorite tracks... 
"Ageless Beauty" is an optimistic valentine to the invincibility of romance which can only be sullied by our foreknowledge that its not going to end well. The track is all pop and not much else with a final reiteration of "we will always be a light" that seems to fall emotionally flat because of its misguided confidence. We know better.


"One more time" ...if we needed reminding that this album is about love lost, this track brings us back to center. Amy Millan delivers the lyrics with superb emphasis and enunciation. It is so nice to hear her voice exposed with minimal competition from the musical accompaniment. The bass line of the song acts like a heartbeat, propelling the song forward as layers are added and taken away with various degrees of dramatic emphasis. Together they sing "One more night, we'll never be friends. One more night, that's all we can spend." How does one make love knowing it will be the last time? The long outro gives us time to ponder the answer and time to remember how the memories of happy moments make the last moments even more somber.


"The First Five Times" is a refreshingly upbeat and satisfying recollection of making love (for the first five times.) It makes you want to smile and poke fun at the unusual circumstances of your own sexual encounters that may or may not have blossomed into relationships. The addition of electronic percussive effects is well executed and lends to the general excitement of the subject matter. As the song builds in intensity we are gently reminded that however magical these moments may have been they are no more. The singers candidly harmonize "And everyday, it's changed since then. In every way, I've changed since then."


I promised to fess-up if a song brought me to tears. In all fairness I was pretty tearful all week. It's hard to say if the tears I shed while listening to this album and reading it's poetry were solely induced by the music or if i'm just a hot mess. Methinks it's both. It's hard not to relate emotionally these songs. The combination of specific imagery with universal one liners is skillfully achieved. As I struggled through the highs and lows of my week I was surprised to find that my least favorite songs "The Big Fight" and "He Lied about Death" prompted the strongest feelings of sadness and discomfort. I was equally surprise that songs I passed over time and time again as I listened and re-listened snuck up on me and choked me up at the last possible moment. It took nearly 10 listens for me to realize that I am the "Calendar Girl" from the last track. This shows that sometimes songs discover you, and when that happens, the imprint is indelible.

Tidbits...
Below is the Album art for the European Vinyl edition. Would you not agree that there is an androgenous quality to the art? The pink ski mask and blow torch are a nice touch but the overall image seems awkward and unsettling. It is, however, vastly more inventive than the album cover which is often criticized for it's predictability.

According to wikipedia the album was written jointly by the band members while they lived together in a rented house for a month or so. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall in that house, which was no doubt a boozy, shoot the shit, bitch about old relationships, jam session which resulted in this introspective album.

The songs from this album have been remixed and released as  Do you Trust you Friends? (pictured below.) Having given it a preliminary listen, It is exactly what it sounds like. The members of Stars gave their musical friends license to tweak their work and the result is pretty awesome...perhaps even better than the original.

Both albums, original and remix, are available on vinyl. I had the wonderful opportunity to listen to the album on vinyl at least once through and it really is incredible how much more you get out of that format.

All in all, i'm enormously satisfied with this album experience. I love how the music revealed itself to me and I was impressed with how the complexities of the instrumentation challenged me to listen in new ways. Undoubtedly the subject matter was right up my alley, and very appropriate for my current state of mind. Throughout the course of the week I had moments of optimism and joy and crippling moments of sadness, fear and insecurity...the album withstood it all and offered me poignant commentary at each juncture. As always with music, hearing is easy but listening is hard. Listening requires focus and a willingness to let the music speak to you, even when it makes you uncomfortable.

"Live through this and you won't look back"

Coming up next week...
Young & Old by Tennis.