Ghosts Of Past Summers

Stars know two things about love. Love is never about sheer joy. It must hurt, you must fight for it, it must make you suffer, any relationship will have its weak points. Thus, it is obvious love is an affair made of delicately and masterfully crafted cobwebs. Love is as intricate as the detailed narratives Stars sing about. And, above all, Stars have an incredible ability to make any line about love seem perfect. Lines so tragic that in the hands of less talented song craftsmen would sound flawed and cheesy. Few lyrics have the same poignancy as “I am trying to say what I want to say without having to say I love you" (Valentine’s Day quirk included). It’s in the wait the faint vocals meet, the shoegaze-y effect of each instrumental, the strange glee of every song.

The Five Ghosts sees them still mastering all these with untouchable grace. While sometimes borrowing from Canadian colleagues The New Pornographers, Stars stay in their realm of bubbles-driven melancholia. And, indeed, their sixth studio album could be close to the magisterial Set Yourself On Fire. Just that now Stars seem to be far more serious and there’s a dark breeze all over the album’s lyrics. When, back in the day, it was clear whether they joked or not, now we have to give songs like I Died So I Could Haunt You a second listening. Stories of ghosts and hurt meet on an album that seems clean, bright and filled with 80’s synthesizers.

There are fewer ballads but when they do create low-keys melodies we are reminded of how great they are. Indeed, Changes is one of the album’s highlights with its tender strings and intimate reverbs. The cosiness of moments like this is replaced by disco numbers like the quirky We Don’t Want Your Body or gameboy beats like those on the magnificent The Passenger. However, the band does not give up the great boy-girl harmonies. The he said/she said formula is used once more with great effect from track one. But now Amy Millan’s sugar-coated voice seems to shine even more that ever. And boy, does she sure can make hearts melt with every note she hits. What makes her vocal stand out even more is the contrast between them and the cold qualities of their melodies.

And, while maybe too sugary in the beginning, The Five Ghosts proves to have plenty of offbeat moments that makes it grounded it the world Stars got us used to: strange drums, drone synths, psychedelic twists or just the poetic quality of their sometimes very sad lyrics. Stars seem to truly fight ghosts on this gem and we are loving every moment of it.