From what I read about Stellastarr* on the internet they didn’t start off sounding the way they do on their latest album, Civilized. Pitchfork compares their first album to Interpol, who released their first around the same time Stellastarr* did. This album, to me, sounds nothing like anything like a Joy Division knock-off band, and more like… I don’t know… generic pop rock? Generic pop punk? Generic anthemic emo pop rock? Something else generic?

I know that using the word “generic” to describe a band’s output isn’t really complimentary, but with Stellastarr* it works out OK. This album isn’t perfect, and sometimes it’s annoying (especially on track 2, Freak Out when singer Shawn Christensen says “Come on you’re on fire!” in a voice that reminds me of Revenge of the Nerds and I can’t help but walk around going “Come on you’re on fire!” in the most annoying nasally whiny pre-pubescent voice I can muster) but for the most part this album is solid fun the whole way through.

The lyrics are much the same as Christensen’s sometimes spotty vocal choices, with great lines being stuck into shitty verses at times, but again, and I don’t want to sound like a broken record, this album seems to be more about fun than anything else. Freak Out‘s lyrics seems to sum up what they’re trying to do: “…we’ll reverse the drought
and bring another kind of people to our show.”

I hope it works out for them, ’cause this is stupid-fun music.