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Montreal in winter is a cold, cruel place. It’s the sort of city where you have to chip the tears off your cheeks when you start to cry, where words freeze barely halfway out of your mouth. Last January, Montreal’s Stars escaped the city for an even colder place. Bundled in parkas, they headed to North Hatley, in Quebec’s rural Eastern Townships, hunkered down and set themselves on fire. When the snow melted and they came out blinking in the sun, Stars discovered they’d made something of staggering beauty. By all accounts, the process of creating Set Yourself On Fire, Stars’ third full-length album, played like scenes from The Shining. During one of the coldest winters on record, the soft revolutionaries set up shop in a cabin offered to them by an odd man they’d met in a local pub, a chap named Alan Nicholls. Turned out he used to play in a classic Montreal garage band in the sixties and currently writes tunes for Robert Altman. Over the mixing board in his country home studio, there was a photo of Alan giving John Lennon a hug. While the snow fell outside, Stars nestled in their cocoon, drank rivers of booze, smoked things they shouldn’t, had bloody arguments, slid down icy hills on the bellies of their snowsuits, kissed and made up and nearly went insane. They steeped themselves in Sam Cooke and the Super Furry Animals, hash cakes and champagne, DuMaurier Lights and library books, the Apostle of Hustle and skating. Serious emo shit went down. When they were done letting themselves completely fall apart, Stars channeled all that cabin feverish intensity into writing brilliant songs. James Shaw, their old pal from Metric, showed up to help record some tracks. They think he survived unscathed. Our valiant heroes finally returned to Montreal when the world woke up. In May, they invited a fantastic British engineer named Tom McFall to visit, and finished the record, fuelled by vegan food from up the street. Tony Hoffer, a fine fellow whose production skills have helped folks like Beck, Grandaddy, Air and Phoenix make blissful pop albums, lent a hand mixing the record. Set Yourself On Fire is the sound of what happens after the thaw. It’s thinking your life is on track, and when the floorboards collapse under your feet, giving in to the chaos instead of fighting it, starting over again more brilliant and gorgeous and raw than you’ve ever been before. It’s knowing you have to decimate your own history in order to understand it. They claim they were aiming for a straight-up sex record, but ended up writing a sex and death and robots record – in Stars, everything that starts off simple blows up big, ornate and rich. It’s there from track one, Your Ex-Lover Is Dead, where an exquisitely warm brass section helps tell a call-and-response story of half-regret, of seeing someone you once fucked at a party, knowing they never hurt you the way they could’ve, and feeling awkward, hateful and oddly wistful about it. It’s there in Evan’s driving bassline and the swirls of Amy’s breathy vocals on the sweetly hooky first single, Ageless Beauty. It’s there in the sultry melodies and taut rhythm section of the he-said, she-said slow-burn jazz creeper The Good Fight, ripping holes through that thin line between love and hate. It’s there in the simple, soaring perfection of the stringdrenched war & peace ballad Celebration Guns, the pure love song (and self-styled Outkast ripoff) The First Five Times and the big shiny Smile-y harmonies of Soft Revolution. Sure, they all still love the Smiths, New Order, Momus, Broken Social Scene* and pretty pop songs, but they’ve made a record that transcends any of those influences. They want you to live every day harder than you’ve ever lived it before. They want you to remember those fifteen seconds in your live when you kissed someone and it broke your heart. They want to keep you hopelessly in love with them and give you the motivation to fight while the world spirals to its endgame. With Set Yourself On Fire, they’ve left you with the rallying cry of the soft revolution. STARS ARE: Torquil Campbell – vocals, keyboard & trumpet / Evan Cranley – bass, guitar & trombone / Amy Millan – guitar & vocals / Chris Seligman – keyboards, programming & French horn / Pat McGee – drums (Amy and Evan are fulltime members of Broken Social Scene and the others like to join them as well, from time to time...) your ex-lover is dead God that was strange to see you again introduced by a friend of a friend smiled and said “yes I think we’ve met before” in that instant it started to pour captured a taxi despite all the rain we drove in silence across pont champlain and all of that time you thought I was sad I was trying to remember your name this scar is a fleck on my porcelain skin you tried to reach deep but you couldn’t get in and now you’re outside me you see all the beauty repent all your sin nothing but time and a face that you’ll lose I chose to feel it and you couldn’t choose I’ll write you a postcard I’ll send you the news from the house down the road from real love live through this and you won’t look back there’s one thing I have to say so I’ll be brave you were what I wanted I gave what I gave I’m not sorry I met you I’m not sorry it’s over I’m not sorry there’s nothing to save... set yourself on fire in a village in the hills house buried to the window sills in snow in a prison yard at night an Alsatian barking for the stars to go in the attic of a house in the slats of light which creep across the room in a forest grove at dawn where the animals sleep hidden in the gloom on the 97th floor overlooking Tokyo in Camden Road in a second floor flat with Dilworth down below there is only one thing in a cancer ward where the patients sit waiting patiently to die in an airplane high above the place you finally left behind in a cage where only one thing could be free and it’s not you and I in a place where only one thing could be free and it’s not you and I in every single place that has ever ever been Hiroshima Los Angeles and each town in between there is only one thing there is only one thing there is only one THING in the darkest part of you that you have ever seen in the smile of the child staring at the tv screen in the diary of a priest in the sheets that lie upon his bed out there amongst the waves and inside your lover’s head there is only one thing there is only one thing there is only one thing there is only one THING... (and then we die) ageless beauty cruelty makes its holes but on the shoreline time will hold its promise we will always be a light you can see it tattered fingers linger on the warm and foolish hardened faces graceless we’ll lose the battle we will always be a light you can see it oceans won’t freeze so loosen your heart underestimated undefeated in this love we will always be a light you can see it reunion in the year of my decline sucking freezies in the rain driving twisted to the suburbs and then driving back again seventeen and half alive headlights illuminate the school inhale the powder from the science class, yes nearly dying felt so cool your face is all that hasn’t changed you’re reassembled just like me but when I reach to touch your hand you stroke mine gently all I want is one more chance to be young and wild and free all I want is one more chance to show you, you were right for me you were right for me! I’m back in gym and it’s the same as my name tag floats away I had six too many drinks last night yes and that’s why I made you stay plus I always wanted you you liked to rock it in your car you said you didn’t understand me because I always tried to see too far well Tainted Love’s too fast to dance to so let’s leave them all behind they hated us with everything they had and we hated them in kind all I want is one more chance to be young and wild and free all I want is one more chance to show you, you were right for me! reunion, reunion, reunion, reunion... the big fight how could you do it I couldn't say years built on sand june until may second to second lied even while you held my hand it’s death for the living yes I am a ghost the mirror is cloudy I loved you the most you threw out the peices did things we didn’t understand he doesn't want her but he just won't let her go she started breaking but she still won't let it show the clothes in the wardrobe just send them to me there are bills here for you that’s cause nothing is free we filled up with things to make us who we want to be is she in the background I just wouldn't know did i build you a prison please don't let me go I've unlocked the door but you can't walk away from me what I’m trying to say you look so good in the clothes of a poser and when you smiled all the kids fell apart here I know a place where it’s warm and it’s dry dear let me take you there north of the river all the streets are the same we can pretend that they don’t know our name and the heat is turned all the way to full so don’t pretend you don’t feel the pull I am trying to say what I want to say without having to say... you look so good in the shoes of an outcast I licked your throat every time they said it wouldn’t last but then I knew you I knew you I knew you we fell apart in the parties of the empty heart we danced the junkie in the shadows of bad modern art we clicked our heels and we wished we were home one more tab and your silk hits the chrome I am trying to say what I want to say without having to say... (Enter Sully) Spring comes in when I’m rolling up another one I draw the curtains in the glare of the same old sun we are collapsed in the act of just being here three blues two greens and a beer... one more night (your ex-lover remains dead) try as he might he’s unable to speak he grabs her by the hair he strokes her on the cheek the bed is unmade like everything is dark little heaven at the top of the stairs take me like that ruin it all then build it again by the light in the hall he drops to his knees says “please my love please I’ll kill who you hate take off that dress you won’t freeze” one more night that was a good one one more night I dreamed it was a good one one more, one more night that was a good one one more night the end should be a good one... he starts with her back cause that what he sees when she’s breaking his heart she still fucks like a tease release to the sky look him straight in the eye and tell him right now that you wish he would die you’ll never touch him again so get what you can bleeding him empty just because he’s a man so good when it ends they’ll never be friends one more night that’s all they can spend is... sleep tonight we don’t want to sleep tonight still young like that I count the lines beside your mouth that smiles now my arms reach up as you go down with buried heads we both forget all of the past and its regret wind picks up the window shakes but we wont hear the morning break you will cry and I will cry because all the love’s alive tonight neighbourhoods will try to dream while you and me we hold and leans onto bodies slick and charged together just one beating heart all around us quiet now we hear the leaves fall to the ground morning light upon our bed an ally while I catch your breath the first five times First time in the back yard underneath the plastic sheeting outside it was pouring and we were drunk as shit next time at a party when all our friends were there there is nothing like bare mattresses underneath the stairs third time in a doorway with the lights all on around us and the audience beside us and your man watching from the trees fourth time I said “that’s that” you’ve agreed to give me everything now I’ve got to ask you one more thing keep doing that forever fifth time in your bedroom when finally we rested and you leaned upon your elbow and began to speak to me but you stopped yourself and kissed me and I grabbed your wrist and told you “I know, I know I know I feel the same as you...” and every day it’s changed since then in every way I’ve changed since then driven outside and driven in... he lied about death What gives you the right to fuck with our lives? a devil born in paradise a liar loves to lie keep watching your back killers always have killers on their track keep watching the sky ’cause you might get lucky again I hope your drunken daughters are gay! you are the shadow of fear! you scare the love out of here like an ape in a cage small white man in a rage mellow suit, mellow smile limousines down murder mile... watch the devil’s at play! drain the bottle empty California today tomorrow it’s you and me... celebration guns tomorrow will there be another number for the one who had a name? a desert wind and a perverse desire to win history buried in shame are the beating drums celebration guns the thunder and the laughter the last thing they remember? and then the next day how will you know your enemy by their colour or your fear one by one you can cage them in your freedom make them all disappear soft revolution We are here to save your life the fool, the drunk, the child and his wife we won’t let the sun go down we’re gonna chase the demons out of town sing it when you feel alone backwards through the megaphone sing it to the ones you love and the ones you’d like to be rid of (cue the revolution) we are here to take the blame to take the taunts and live the shame we are here to make you feel it terrifies you but it’s real it will keep you up all night and in the flood of morning light spilling out across your room you’ll say the words “we’ll get there soon” (cue revolution) the revolution wasn’t bad we hit the streets with all we had a tape recording of the sound of the velvet underground a k-way jacket torn to shreds and a dream inside our heads and after changing everything they couldn’t tell we couldn’t sing they couldn’t tell we couldn’t sing and that changes everything calendar girl If I am lost for a day try to find me but if I don’t come back then I won’t look behind me and all of the things that I thought were so easy just got harder and harder each day December is darkest in June there’s the light but this empty bedroom won’t make anything right while out on the landing a friend I forgot to send home who waits up for me all through the night calendar girl who’s in love with the world stay alive! I dreamed I was dying as I so often do and when I awoke I was sure it was true I ran to the window threw my head to the sky and said “whoever is up there please don’t let me die” but I can’t live forever I can’t always be one day I’ll be sand on a beach by the sea the pages keep turning I mark off each day with a cross and I’ll laugh about all that we’ve lost calendar girl who is lost to the world stay alive calendar girl who is lost to the world stay alive! January, February, March,April, May I’m alive! June, July,August, September, October I’m alive November, December and all through the winter I’m alive! I’m alive... STARS » Your Ex-Lover Is Dead « STARS » Ageless Beauty « STARS » In Our Bedroom After The War « |
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