Well-known Canadian band Stars is headed to the McDonald Theatre on November 7. The indie rockers released their most recent album, “The Five Ghosts,” this summer, and I found it to be more imaginative than any of their recent efforts. A series of songs that are somewhere between romantic narrative and true ghost stories, “The Five Ghosts” is rich with gleaming synthesizers. Frontmen Amy Millan and Torquil Campbell sing call-and-response with (pardon the pun) haunting lyrics like, “I died so I could have you/I died so I could haunt you.”
The album sounds more heavily influenced by Tears for Fears than by the band members’ history with Broken Social Scene. Needless to say, the eccentricity of this new album might make for an interesting concert.
I saw Stars the last time they were in Eugene in October of 2008. The band played at WOW Hall, and I was surprised to see a bigger-name indie band playing at such a small venue. The stage was set elaborately — much more so than for any other WOW show that I’ve ever been to — complete with strobe lights and enormous bouquets of live, gilded roses that Campbell threw passionately at fans during the finale. The band’s stage presence was just as radiant as the bouquets, though; Campbell, very short and clad in an enormous, white, puffy down jacket paused between almost every song and thanked the crowd for “taking the time to appreciate (his) art.” Every time, the audience responded with wild cheering. I don’t speak Canadian, but I could only interpret this as some kind of very effective hipster mating call.
Stars’ show at WOW Hall was well balanced between the group’s more popular songs (“Your Ex-Lover Is Dead” or “Ageless Beauty”) and older standards (“Elevator Love Letter”). I will be interested to see how they choose to piece together the upcoming concert at McDonald. In light of their newest album, I fully expect to be a little creeped out, but more than that, I hope to be very entertained. Millan struck me as more reserved on stage, but Campbell clearly loves the spotlight. He’ll have just that Nov. 7 at 8 p.m., and I will be there, looking forward to as much Canadian indie rock as I can stand.
Hannah Dischinger,
KWVA’s music director, is a senior from Denver majoring in environmental science. Her weekly radio show, “Sunny Side Up,” airs on Fridays from noon to 1 p.m. and features indie rock and motown.
Her favorite bands are The Decemberists, The Beatles, Death Cab for Cutie, Ratatat and the Weakerthans. Check out her top plays at spinitron.com/radio/playlist.php?station=kwva&djuid=31.
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McDonald Theatre hosts Stars concert Nov. 7
Daily Emerald
October 24, 2010
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