the Starlets

(from CWSY#9, June '02) / home / reviews index

The Starlets 'Surely Tomorrow You'll Feel Blue' (Stereotone)
Let's play a little game of word association; if you can't get the answers, I'll hit you on the head with a hammer. Sounds like a good idea for childrens TV, eh?

When musicians are silly enough to post themselves up as "post-rock", I'm more than likely to mention Mogwai or Tortoise in a review I'd write of them. It's a kind of mind-conditioning possibly caused by reading the music press too much. Likewise when someone says "Glasgow", I'll sooner think about all the cool bands from thereabouts than I would think of my family ancestry. I'm not even sure if the Starlets are themselves Glaswegian, but that is where they're based: so there we go and you can guess the all-too obvious comparisons. But be warned: one of the clues could be a red herring!

They're a new band who back up their urban poetry with deep, sumptuous and sombre strings and brass, opening up a bit like ___ ________ with suggestions such as "spend your fares on a last drink.. It's not such a long walk home." Sad outsiders who find optimism in small beauty, reminding me of ___ ______ _____. And the lead vocalist sings like the mainman of her main band ______ _ _________, the affectation of Stuart Murdoch oddly mixed with the pitch of that young man from JJ72 (whatever happened to them? They weren't from Glasgow, but they were alright!). Even more oddly, the guy who softly enunciates lines like "the bandstand with the balustrade, off Alexandra's old parade" is called 'Biff'. Biff! Is it really a tough guy who has this voice of gold?

Biff doesn't lose all hardman cred with his mates Wallop and Pow. The Starlets carpet their sound with layers of fuzzy guitar something like __ _________. Hear the chugging fizz of 'New Wave' or the excitingly sinister whisper of "rock 'n' roll!" between the bars of 'Hypercool' - they're a group who'll write a 'Poem on a Beermat', stop after a lyric to reflect "quite a pretty word", but who can run with the best of them. Like _______ _______'s sonic beauty before the Byrds obsession grew too much. The electric climbdown of 'Firestorm', sprinkled with tinkles and like a protective web of satellites adds something grander than the piano of 'Glorious Technicolor'. Yet at the same time you can almost see their fingers pick the strings of their acoustics. As they proclaim themselves, they're "Rocking in a Shy Way". It's not twee, and if it reminds me of other Glasgow groups, I don't mean that as a bad thing. For instance, the press notes talk also of European balladry. Ah well.

The Starlets: actually stars in their own right.

www.starlets.co.uk / Stereotone, 3/1 9 James Morrison Street, Glasgow, G1 5PE

(from CWSY#9, June '02) / home / reviews index The Starlets 'Surely Tomorrow You'll Feel Blue' (Stereotone) Let's play a little game of word association; if you can't get the answers, I'll hit you on the head with a hammer. Sounds like a good idea for childrens TV, eh? When musicians are silly enough to post themselves up as "post-rock", I'm more than likely to mention Mogwai or Tortoise in a review I'd write of them. It's a kind of mind-conditioning possibly caused by reading the music press too much. Likewise when someone says "Glasgow", I'll sooner think about all the cool bands from thereabouts than I would think of my family ancestry. I'm not even sure if the Starlets are themselves Glaswegian, but that is where they're based: so there we go and you can guess the all-too obvious comparisons. But be warned: one of the clues could be a red herring! They're a new band who back up their urban poetry with deep, sumptuous and sombre strings and brass, opening up a bit like ___ ________ with suggestions such as "spend your fares on a last drink.. It's not such a long walk home." Sad outsiders who find optimism in small beauty, reminding me of ___ ______ _____. And the lead vocalist sings like the mainman of her main band ______ _ _________, the affectation of Stuart Murdoch oddly mixed with the pitch of that young man from JJ72 (whatever happened to them? They weren't from Glasgow, but they were alright!). Even more oddly, the guy who softly enunciates lines like "the bandstand with the balustrade, off Alexandra's old parade" is called 'Biff'. Biff! Is it really a tough guy who has this voice of gold? Biff doesn't lose all hardman cred with his mates Wallop and Pow. The Starlets carpet their sound with layers of fuzzy guitar something like __ _________. Hear the chugging fizz of 'New Wave' or the excitingly sinister whisper of "rock 'n' roll!" between the bars of 'Hypercool' - they're a group who'll write a 'Poem on a Beermat', stop after a lyric to reflect "quite a pretty word", but who can run with the best of them. Like _______ _______'s sonic beauty before the Byrds obsession grew too much. The electric climbdown of 'Firestorm', sprinkled with tinkles and like a protective web of satellites adds something grander than the piano of 'Glorious Technicolor'. Yet at the same time you can almost see their fingers pick the strings of their acoustics. As they proclaim themselves, they're "Rocking in a Shy Way". It's not twee, and if it reminds me of other Glasgow groups, I don't mean that as a bad thing. For instance, the press notes talk also of European balladry. Ah well. The Starlets: actually stars in their own right. www.starlets.co.uk / Stereotone, 3/1 9 James Morrison Street, Glasgow, G1 5PE	the delgados The Gentle Waves Belle & Sebastian AC Acoustics Teenage Fanclub Fish