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Rating: Warning: sappy and sweet review! Refrain from metallers, punk rockers, hip hoppers, pop music victims, prog bronze faces, audiophile-necrophiles, emo-addicts, house-dependent, etc. Come on in folks (and ladies especially) who aren’t afraid to feel emotions.
"The night starts here, the night starts here, forget your name, forget your fear..."
After a short instrumental-electronic piece that ends with a gloomy elderly voice (just like how the splendid previous album "Set Yourself On Fire" begins macabrely) the single "The Night Starts Here" kicks off... and it's love at first listen, with all those light, sweet, candy-scented melodies. Melodies that can make you cry, smile, sadden, love... dream.
Thirteen tracks for a total of 55 minutes of music that, once absorbed, you will hardly expel from your hearts. Yes, that's right, you have to listen to this record with your heart. For these 55 minutes, you must rid yourself of all musical prejudices dwelling in you and let yourself go, simply.
This does not mean that Stars are unlistenable, far from it. Take the profound piano of "Personal". Take all those electronic sounds in "The Night Starts Here" (the most immediately touching track). Take the stadium choruses of "Barricade". Take the wonderful string arrangements of the title-track. Take the funky drums of "The Ghosts Of Genova Heights". The whale sounds in "Today Will Be Better, I Swear!". You will find many small great ideas in your hands. Small but very precise and pleasant.
No, this album does not want to elevate itself brutally, it is not boastful, it does not self-indulge, and even if sometimes it may seem the opposite (as in "Barricade") then comes a simple yet very tender song like "Window Bird" to set things right. Small melodies for small love stories. Love: Stars talk about this. But not because they are naive Canadians with a passion for electro-pop who haven't yet learned from their American and British colleagues what disillusionment is, but because they have well understood that if something will ever save our butts from all the mess we create, it will be this feeling that does it. And while in the previous "Set Yourself On Fire" they made us understand it in a majestically sad and resigned way, in 2007 they feel a bit happier and a bit less dark.
I could spend hours explaining the differences, but just look at the album titles to understand the difference. First "Set Yourself On Fire" then "In Our Bedroom After the War". A little more optimistic, right?
So, when the album is about to end, you will marvel that those 6 minutes of the super sweet title-track ("Listen! The birds sing! Listen! The bells ring!") did not make you feel repulsed but rather made you wish to listen to the entire album again.
Trust me. Let yourself go. Divert the path of your ears to the warm heart instead of the cold brain. This music is not to be overthought. It's music for singles. Music for lovers. Music for sad people in search of a reason to smile. Music for happy people who want another reason to feel happy. Music for those who seek but don’t find, but well know inside that if they don’t give up, they will succeed in their intent. Inexplicably warm music in its Canadian nature.
Call it whatever you like, but try to listen to it. And make those you love listen to it.
"Here it comes! Here comes the first day! Here it comes! Here comes the first day!
It starts up in our bedroom after the war
After the war! After the war..."
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
03 Take Me to the Riot (03:48)
Grey skies and
Light fading
Headlamps making patterns on the wall
Uptown is
Dead now but
Out here no one seems to care at all
Slick girls and
Sick boys and
Each one lining up to take you home
They hold tight
They coin and
They pray no one has to see them fall
I'm there, yeah
I serve them
The one with the empty looking eyes
Come closer
You'll see me
The face that is used to telling lies
Saturday nights in neon light
Sunday in the sand
Pills enough to make me feel ill
Cash enough to make me well
Take me, take me to the riot
Take me, take me to the riot
Take me, take me to the riot
Take me, take me to the riot
Take me
You sprung me
I'm grateful
I love when you tell me not to speak
I owe you, but
I know you
You'll have me back, but it's going to take a week
What now, kid?
Which way, love?
Will we ever make up and be friends?
Good news is
My shoes is
Lined with all my nickels and my plans
Let's do them
Just feed me
I hate when I have to get to sleep
You despise me and
I'll love you
It's not much but it's just enough to keep
Saturday nights in neon light
Sunday in the sand
Pills enough to make me feel ill
Cash enough to make me feel well
Take me, take me to the riot
Take me, take me to the riot
Take me, take me to the riot
Take me, take me to the riot
And let me stay
And let me stay
Let me stay
Let me, let me
Let me stay.
04 My Favourite Book (04:05)
I was always late
You never afraid
That we could be fallin'
All our friends would say
That maybe we should wait
But they can't see what's comin'
And to this day
When everything breaks
You are the anchor that holds me
And that is why we'll always make it
How I know your face
All the ways you move
You come in, I can read you
You're my favourite book
All the things you say
The way you shift your eyes
I never knew there was someone
To make me come alive
When the days are long
And the thunder with the storm
Can always get me cryin'
But you can make my bed
I'll fall into it
Shattered but not lonely
Cause I never knew a home
Until I found your hands
And when I'm withered
You come to me, you’re my best friend
And that is why we'll always make it
How I know your face
All the ways you move
You come in, I can read you
You're my favourite book
All the things you say
The way you shift your eyes
I never knew there was someone
To make me come alive
And when we’re making love
I give everything up for your touch
How I know your face
All the ways you move
You come in
I can read you, you're my favourite book
All the things you say
The way you shift your eyes
I never knew there was someone
To make me come alive
And when you go to work
All the day I wait
For you to come home
Makin’ our time
In our little place
Our little place
Our little place…
07 Personal (04:07)
Wanted single F
Under 33
Must enjoy the sun
Must enjoy the sea
Sought by single M
Ms. Destiny
Send photo to address
Is it you and me?
Reply to single M
My name is Caroline
Cell phone number here
Call if you have the time
28 and bored
Grieving over loss
Sorry to be heavy
But heavy is the cost
Heavy is the cost
Reply to Caroline
Thanks so much for response
These things can be scary
Not always what you want
How about a drink?
This ancient club at noon
I'll phone you first I guess
I hope I see you soon
I never got your name
I assume you're 33
Your voice it sounded kind
I hope that you like me
When you see my face
I hope that you don't laugh
I'm not a film star beauty
I'll send a photograph
I hope that you don't laugh
Note to single M
Why did you not show up?
I waited for an hour
I finally gave up
I thought once that I saw you
I thought that you saw me
I guess we'll never meet now
It wasn't meant to be
It wasn't meant to be
I was sure you saw me
But it wasn't meant to be
Wanted single F
Under 33
Must enjoy the sun
Must enjoy the sea
Sought by single M
Nothing too heavy
Send photo to address
Is it you or me?
Is it you or me?
Is it you or me?
Is it you or me?
08 Barricade (03:51)
Trapped on the terraces, I looked at you and knew
You were the only thing that mattered
There was no one for me but you
In Harmony Street we beat a man
Just for standing there
I held my breath as I watched you swing
Then run your fingers through your hair
Oh, how could anyone not love the terrible things you do?
Oh, how could anyone not want to try and help you?
In Bermondsey, in Burberry
You held me at the barricade
The pigs arrived with tear gas
And I wept at the mistakes we made
We stalked the streets like animals
And danced as windows shattered
For the island, for the thrill of it
For everything that mattered
Oh, how could anyone not want to rip it all apart?
Oh, how could anyone not love your cold, black heart?
I found you on a Saturday
And that was where I lost you
You had to finally walk away
Because of what it cost you
Years later when I saw your face
In line to catch the morning train
You looked like you'd been softened
Like you never really loved the pain
Oh, how could anyone not finally diminish?
The thrill of blood comes instantly
There's only darkness at the finish
Meet me at the barricade
I'll be at the barricade
Meet me at the barricade
The love died, but the hate can't fade
I'll be at the barricade
The love died, but the hate can't fade
10 Bitches in Tokyo (02:50)
You can write my place out
Of the life you make
And all then things that mattered
When you knew my face
Cross off all the ways I failed you
Because I failed you
But I'm still in your blood
I'm still in your blood
The time when all our mistakes made sense
You needed it
The time when all the lying
You sympathized with sin
All this sabotage and blame
Well I can take it
Because I want you back
Temporary battles
Can take up half your life
How you dig your bed
Will it help you sleep at night
Forgiveness like a blanket
That you want to forget
But you still crumble at my name
You still crumble at my name
The time when all our mistakes made sense
You needed it
The time when all the lying
You sympathized with sin
All this sabotage and blame
Well I can take it
Because I want you back
13 In Our Bedroom After the War (06:46)
Wake up, say good morning to
That sleepy person lying next to you
If there's no one there then there's no one there
But at least the war is over
It's us, yes, we're back again
Here to see you through 'til the day's end
And if the night comes and the night will come
Well at least the war is over
Lift your head and look out the window
Stay that way for the rest of the day and watch the time go
Listen, the birds sing, listen, the bells ring
All the living are dead and the dead are all living
The war is over and we are beginning
Gridlock on the parkway now
The television man is here to show you how
The channel fades to snow, it's off to work you go
But at least the war is over
She's gone, she left before you woke
As you ate last night, neither of you spoke
Dishes, TV, bed, the dark was filled with dread
But at least the war is over
Lift your head and look out the window
Stay that way for the rest of the day and watch the time go
Listen, the birds sing, listen, the bells ring
All the living are dead and the dead are all living
The war is over and we are beginning
We won or we think we did
When you went away you were just a kid
And if you lost it all and you lost it
Well, we'll still be there when your war is over
Lift your head and look out the window
Stay that way for the rest of the day and watch the time go
Listen, the birds sing, listen, the bells ring
All the living are dead and the dead are all living
The war is over, we are beginning
Here it comes, here comes the first step
Here it comes, here comes the first step
It starts up in our bedroom after the war
It starts up in our bedroom after the war, after the war
After the war, after the war, after the war
After the war, after the war, after the war
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