By dint of their crucial NYC homebase, STELLASTARR* appear to have leapfrogged much of the competition to be racking up considerable press coverage as this, their first EP, hits the racks.
Despite the overbearing whiff of hype, however, "Somewhere Across Forever" goes some way to dispelling it as it turns out this is a cool debut that can stand firmly on its' nicely-tailored new wave pegs. Indeed, the three tracks here suggest Stellastarr* can turn on the charm without resorting too obviously to the Noo Yoik angularity made virtually obligatory by The Strokes.
No, Stellastarr* insist you take them on their merits alone, which is of course how it should be. "Somewhere Across Forever" is a scuzzed-up and catchy introductory salvo, with Shawn Christensen and bassist Amanda Tannen doing a convincing Black Francis and Kim Deal harmony thing, while the guitars go from Pixies-esque punky and simple to Sonic Youth-y big and expansive. Amazingly, it shouldn't put the charts off either.
Impressively, neither "No Weather" and "School Ya" do anything other than capitalise. "No Weather" slips into guitar-mangling overload midstream, but refuses to lose the plot and rises in unashamed anthem mode before it hits the fade. Christensen has an excitable, yelping vocal manner, not dissimilar to Frank Black or Jarvis Cocker in his animated, dong-caught-in-zipper moments. Hardly orthodox, but captivating enough, nonetheless.
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"School Ya", meanwhile, is perhaps the best (and most ambitious) set-piece here. It ebbs and flows with some excellent power drumming from Arthur Kremer driving it to greater heights and a cloudburst of glorious Wedding Present guitars eventually brings in the chorus: "Hey teacher, hey preacher, cheerleaders, I'm gonna school ya!" Surely one of the stranger, lung-bursting choruses you'll find yourself indulging in stagefront this year.
As always, when this much hype surrounds a young band this reviewer has a tendency to avoid being too effusive with praise. However, "Somewhere Across Forever" clears the first hurdle with confidence. Let's hope they've signed up for the marathon.
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