Stars - Set Yourself on Fire

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Despite the efforts of practically every college radio station and music writer in Canada, Montreal's Stars remain little more than a cult favorite in their home country. Considering the number of breathtakingly beautiful songs they've recorded, the fact that they simply cannot break through into the mainstream is both criminal and distressing. But, to their credit, that hasn't fazed them. Almost two years after the release of their second album Heart, comes Set Yourself on Fire, a CD which has already placed near the top of every Canadian critic's year-end list this past December, and for good reason, as it contains some of the most exquisite music they've ever recorded.

Led by outspoken singer/keyboardist/principal songwriter Torquil Campbell, the evolution of Stars has been steady; 2000's Nightsongs was heavily indebted to 80s British pop (ranging from The Smiths to New order), while Nightsongs boasted the Canadian indie pop classic "Elevator Love Letter", a lovely single that was as good as any song by any Scottish twee band out there. Set Yourself on Fire, though, has progressed to the point where Campbell and company can almost do no wrong, so confident are the songs, which glide along gracefully, alternating between electro and light indie pop, all the while imbued with the lushest of pop hooks.

Campbell, always the supremely skilled lyricist, tops himself on several tracks, displaying a stunning ability to capture poetic snapshots that remain in your head. Nobody in Canada writes loves songs like he can. On "Your Ex-Lover is Dead", he muses, "We drove in silence across Pont Champlain/And all of that time you thought I was sad/I was trying to remember your name," while on the sweet "What I'm Trying to Say", he fumbles around with clumsy compliments ("You look so good in the clothes of a poser") before confessing, "I am trying to say what I want to say without having to say I love you." "The First Five Times" evokes the brutally honest romanticism of Jarvis Cocker, while the gorgeous "Reunion" combines memorable images ("Sucking Freezies in the rain") with the awkwardness of a high school reunion ("Your face hasn't changed/You're reassembled just like me").

As fine a lead singer as Campbell is, singer/guitarist Amy Millan remains the band's greatest asset. Possessing a light, airy voice that can make any guy swoon, she makes every song better, whether she's singing back-up, engaging in faux-lovers' quarrels with Campbell (like on "The Big Fight"), or singing lead herself. It's one Millan track, "Ageless Beauty," that is far and away the best track on the album, a shimmering, upbeat song, heavily influenced by classic dreampop from the early 1990s. As Millan's layered vocals dominate the mix, the song exudes both elegance and passion, completely living up to the title.

While the great majority of the album is exceptional, it hits a bit of a bump near the end on the two vitriolic tracks "He Lied About Death" and "Celebration Guns," two blunt attacks on George W. Bush that, while fervent, stick out too much among the more introspective fare on the album. Campbell's lyrics resort to cheap shots ("I hope your drunken daughters are gay!") instead of poetic vehemence. After those two songs, though, Stars immediately right themselves on what may soon become their calling card, "Soft Revolution." Ostentatiously declaring, "We are here to save your life," the band implores listeners to have faith in the positive power of pop music, for us to express joy instead of anger during these tough times. Instead of a violent uprising, Campbell semi-ironically envisions a revolution where they "hit the streets with all we had/A tape recording of the sound/Of the Velvet Underground/A K-Way jacket torn to shreds/And a dream inside our heads." Set Yourself on Fire probably won't start the kind of revolution they wish for (most Canadians are too busy listening to Our Lady peace to give a damn), but for the few who do give this album a listen, there could be no better remedy for this screwed-up world around them.