Stars – We Don’t Want Your Body

Stars – We Don’t Want Your Body

The Stars have always been pretty twee, a typically groan-worthy genre, but they’ve managed to win me over (versus, say, The Field Mice). They also put out fun, original videos and I have lingering good feelings for “Bitches in Tokyo”, “Sleep Tonight” and other cleverness. Unfortunately, the promo for their single “We Don’t Want Your Body” off of The Five Ghosts departs from the creative trend and lands in Disappointing-stan. [Editor's note: Woah. I can't believe I wrote that. Sorry guys.]

In what must be a tribute to Olivia Newton John’s “Physical”. Even the soft, blurring lighting and 80s quality footage is reminiscent of Olivia’s gym terrorizing. Of course, the recognition of such a close relation also invites us to compare the homage against the original. Both of the videos have the same running joke: overly muscly brutes are thoroughly absurd people, especially when you watch them go through their grueling and sweaty rituals. It’s a bit much to handle in both cases.

But unlike “Physical”, this Stars effort doesn’t soften the gross exercising with a (albeit wispy) narrative or light commentary beyond “lol they look like monsters.” Instead, all we get are a few visual gags – body builders lip-syncing Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan, the meatheads flex dancing in unison and the other antics – which becomes tedious very quickly. The body steam runs out and we’re left to watch the absurdism go on for 3.5 minutes. That’s too much protein powder to swallow.



Stars - We Don't Want Your Body [Official Video]

Twin Sister – In Heaven

Twin Sister – In Heaven

In Heaven (Domino) is a good, fun, unhurried ride through the neighborhood of a band from Long Island that took their vision to Brooklyn and developed a following and released one well-received EP, Vampires, with Dreaming Kids in 2008 before their first full-length debut.

Andrea Estrella has the ethereal vocals and the flexibility to shift from siren song into popville without it being jarring. In “Kimmi In A Rice Field,” she exhibits  the transcendent psychedelic floataway cool of Debbie Harry. Flecked with Asian influences, this rack is nicely trancy and outerspacy,  but at times  it’s unevenly leveled and your ear may need to scramble to find its footing. “Bad Street” is a pulsing danceable  and saucy groove, twangy and out there. Gwen Stefani and No Doubt come to mind here.

“Daniel” has a charming bossa-nova “Girl From Ipanema” feel to it. It blends well  into the background of your daily life and tasks but if you focus on it you’ll still recognize its merits. The cool, comfortable breeziness of it expands Twin Sister’s sound beyond the defining confines of “indie” or chillwave even though those elements are undeniably present. ”Spain”  juxtaposes Doors-esque electronic touches but Estrella’s lyrics come across muddied almost as if she were speaking in tongues which may well be the desired effect.

The band definitely enjoys experimenting with the genre switchoff, creating an effect something like playing the first few notes of multiple songs in a consecutive block. “Saturday Sunday” shifts into upbeat poppy single mode and it’s a much-needed varietal injection into the bloodstream of the album with its punk pop new-wave mashup. The lineup change-up continues with ”Stop,” a surprising foray into mellow jazzy soul.  ”Gene Ciampi” has the swingy island-breeze calypso sound that Blondie captured so deftly. Twin Sister’s easy playfulness,  rather than music to worry by, is music to escape worry by.

Twin Sister - Stop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO84V2FAAJw

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