-=- SHGZ -=-
* Shoegaze * Indie * Post-Rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Psych-Rock * Ethereal *
ARTIST..: Starsabout
ALBUM...: Halflights
GENRE...: Progressive Rock
STYLE...: Art Rock, Dream Pop, Post-rock, Nostalgiawave, Sophistipop
YEAR....: 2016
LABEL...: Not On Label / Starsabout Self-Released
COUNTRY.: Poland
PLACE...: Bialystok, podlaskie
FORMED..: 2011
ENCODER.: LAME 3.100 -V0
BITRATE.: 259 kbps avg
QUALITY.: 44.1kHz / Joint Stereo
SOURCE..: CDR
TRACKS..: 8
SIZE....: 90.81 MB
URL..: https://www.facebook.com/starsabout
https://www.discogs.com/release/11323712-Starsabout-Halflights
https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/starsabout/halflights
https://starsabout.bandcamp.com/album/halflights
https://www.backgroundmagazine.nl/Gigreviews/20191013RetrospectiveSA.html
https://www.musikreviews.de/reviews/2018/Starsabout/Longing-For-Home--Halflights
https://www.progwereld.org/recensie/starsabout-halflight
https://www.rockarea.pl/recenzje/starsabout-2016-halflights
https://musicinbelgium.net/reviews/review-9046
https://www.musicwaves.fr/frmreview.aspx?id=16666&ref=starsabout_halflights
- TRACKLIST
1 Halflight 6:07
2 Every Single Minute 6:08
3 The Night 4:56
4 Black Rain Love 7:03
5 Escaped 5:49
6 Sway 5:03
7 20 000 Miles 5:49
8 Bluebird 7:56
Total Playtime: 48:51
This album was recorded on seven snowy days in January 2016.
Recorded, mixed & mastered by Piotr Polak at Dobra12 Studio
*except Black Rain Love - recorded, m&m at IStudio Records by Janusz Balczun.
Dear Listener,
This music is for you. Please, play it loud! :)
We like to think that our songs sound their best when they are played as as a
full album, one song leading to the next.
And we truly believe that good music doesn't have an expiration date.
Enjoy this journey with us.
*
Halflights is a mesmerizing album by Polish band Starsabout. They make dreamy
music inspired by space rock, psychedelia and progressive rock. It is a
timeless, captivating form of music, with reverberating and distorted,
soaring guitars. The band members encourage listeners to listen to the album
in sequence, as an entire body of work.
*
Prolusion. Polish band STARSABOUT was formed back in 2011, and following an
initial EP in 2014 they released their debut album "Halflights" in 2016. One
year later the band was signed to German label Progressive Promotion Records,
who released their second album "Longing for Home" towards the tail end of
the year. Around the same time their new label also reissued the band's debut
album, as the physical edition of the original run of that production had
sold out at that point.
Analysis. I see that a lot of what I described regarding the second album of
this band stands true also for their debut album. This isn't progressive rock
as such, but it is music that have some ties with the genre and that may well
be of interest to many progressive rock fans. But at the core the music here
is indie rock or perhaps even dream pop to a much larger extent than
progressive rock. The compositions tends to have the same or similar pace and
key rhythm backing throughout, and the main alterations takes place in the
arrangements that does tend to ebb, flow and fluctuate in intensity. When
alterations in pace are present, they aren't of the kind where you typically
transition from one theme to another, as the material here is pretty uniform
on both an album level and on the level of the individual song. The one tie
to the genre the band presents us with is the use of textured instrument
details of the kind that is the trademark sound of post-rock. In this case it
is applied as an effect, on top of material that is much closer to indie
rock. Wandering plucked guitars and a steady rhythm section dominate, and on
most tracks the vocals are dominant and the instruments subservient. The
instruments gets to shine in transitions and instrumental passages of course,
and this is also where the post rock elements most often makes their
appearances. Stunningly beautiful at best, in this case generally wrapped
inside a more melancholic context: This CD revolves around melancholy as a
core trait in melody lines, vocal melody lines and vocal delivery. There's a
lot of promise on this album if you enjoy this type of music, but the total
album experience is let down by one technical detail: Somewhere in the
recording, mix or production phase someone have done a Spinal Tap on the
material, so that the sounds are breaking and static is formed. This goes
mainly for the higher notes, but occasionally also for the bass guitar when
delivering a meatier sound. Which is a shame, as progressive rock fans tends
to notice such details being present. For me it is a detrimental feature, but
not to the extent of being a destructive one. A slight annoyance when it
appears - but for audiophiles this will be a much bigger issue I suspect.
Conclusion. Starsabout is a good example of a band operating inside a
relatively more mainstream oriented type of music, indie rock in this case,
that incorporate some elements from the progressive rock universe to make
their music more interesting. In this case it is post rock, and those who
love coming across indie rock bands flavoring their material with post rock
textures as well as being fans of melancholic music in general will find a
lot to enjoy here.
-=- SHGZ -=-
-=-=-==-=-=-
Post-rock
is a subgenre of experimental rock
characterized by the exploration of textures and
timbres as well as non-rock styles, often with minimal or
no vocals, placing less emphasis on conventional song structures
or riffs than on atmosphere for musically evocative purposes.
Post-rock artists can often combine rock instrumentation
and rock stylings with electronics and digital
production as a means of enabling the
exploration of textures, timbres
and different
styles.
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