At this point, when Montreal pop band Stars announce they are coming out with a new album it is obvious what should be expected. Some sweet songs about love, loss, and lust sung by the heart-on-his-sleeve Torq Campbell and the soft whispers of Amy Millan’s voice. A quick glance at song titles like “I Died So I Could Haunt You”, “He Dreams Awake” and “The Last Song Ever Written” show that the fifth Stars album will follow their usual trajectory path. The first song from the album, Fixed, was a happy pop song sung by Amy Millan and it was a good indicator of what was to come on the rest of the album. While there may not be any groundbreaking tunes like “Ageless Beauty” on this album, that is not what Stars excels at. They excel at putting out good albums rather than just a few catchy singles here and there. “We Don’t Want Your Body”, the first radio single from the album sounds like a band trying to hard to create a hit with it’s synth heavy pop beats. What draws listeners into the album are songs such as “Changes”, sung in a seemingly effortless whisper by Amy Millan set to some faint synth, strings, and a steady soft drumming beat. Unlike previous albums where the vocal duties were fairly evenly split, The Five Ghosts truly is Amy’s stage with her vocal work really being the strong point of the album keeping it afloat. Torq and Amy’s voices continue to compliment each other perfectly as demonstrated with album highlight “The Passenger” that sees Torq singing the verses of the song with Amy coming in and taking over the chorus. The Five Ghosts even has an almost concept album feel as their are consistent themes of death, the afterlife, and love. The artwork for both the album and the singles reflect these themes with nostalgic old black and white photographs depicting people with expressions that are hard to decipher. While Stars is a fairly predictable band that sticks to a similar formula from one album to another, they know how to execute their game plan well and create albums that tug at the heart strings a little and make for an enjoyable listen.
The Passenger
