Stars - Set Yourself on Fire

Stars, another band loosely involved with the whole Broken Social Scene scene in Montreal, has come out with a new, not-as-good-as-the-last CD called Set Yourself on Fire. I already listened to most of the CD at their website. And I definately know this CD is not as good as the last (even though the sound quality on the site is absolutely dreadful). I guess paqrt of it is that I am just getting tired of the whole Broken Social Scene and Arts and Crafts Records thing in general. I loved You Forgot it in People (by BSS) and Stars' last album, Heart for their incredibly setimental content. Not just lyrically sentimental, but also melodically. Both bands did an excellent job of compressing millions of complex ideas and feelings into 3-5 minute pop-ish songs. And because of this, both bands deserve a great deal of recognition.

But ... I am not so impressed with the new album. I guess it is because I already heard it last year. And I already heard BSS do their version of it. Bands like Stars just cannot keep the high standard of their output up for more than one good album because it will never have the same affect on the listener. The audience will never feel the sensation of hearing something great by them for the first time again. So, although hearing that they had a new album out made me happy, I knew it would never have the same affect on me. And I supposed that is also why I am scared about the new BSS CD that is to come out next year.
But I must agree with Pitchfork here - the bass playing on Set Yourself on Fire is really good. I have always thought that good songs are made from the bass up. If you have a good bass melody, the whole song fits together. So the album is very appealing in that regard, but it will never be the same ...