Red Stars Theory
Life In A Bubble Can Be Beautiful

Formed in Seattle in 1995, the "Red Stars Theory" are undoubtedly among the most talented acts on the American scene. Their style, a sort of slow and metaphysical psychedelic folk sporadically caressed by violin laments, is like a cross between Codeine and Dirty Three. Their music is made of evocative compositions, often transporting listeners into a hallucinatory trance.

This is their second LP, dated 1999. The seven tracks that comprise it are small masterpieces of transcendence, where the singing is mostly relegated to a background instrument, subdued and listless, reminiscent of the anemic declamations of Mark Kozelek and his great "Red House Painters". An emblematic example is "Combinations And Complications", a journey into the calm of a desert at sunset, enchantingly subdued. The more than eight minutes of the following "Parts Per Million", with a poignant violin in the foreground, are truly moving and create a landscape of remarkable class. Winter arrives quickly and unexpectedly in the cold "Boring Ghost", a very sad alienating guitar lament, bleeding pain with its dissonances.

In short, there isn't a track to discard, and one is instead captivated by the overall atmosphere of the album, which certainly deserves to be placed alongside the more well-known masterpieces.