“We are ready to rock your fucking world!” But softly, baby, softly. Stars frontman Torquil Campbell’s declaration to the packed El Mocambo at his band’s recent CD release proved a tad ironic when the band launched into “What the Snowman Learned About Love,” the hushed, winsome first track off their brilliant new album, Heart.
Campbell may have coined the phrase “soft revolution” to describe the Montreal/Toronto quartet’s brand of shimmering pop, but it applies equally to several of their contemporaries on the local indie front. From Broken Social Scene to Raising the Fawn to Hidden Cameras and several like-minded acts in between, they’re a big mutual admiration society—a big musical family, if you will.
The addition of guitarist and co-vocalist Millan and bassist Evan Cranley moves Stars slightly away from their Smiths/St. Etienne fixation—Heart reveals the band coming into its own unique sound. While the Britpop influence is still there, they’ve left behind the electro-pop for something a bit more organic, incorporating sweeping strings and horns. It’s a grand romantic statement, the manifesto the “soft revolution” was waiting for.
Millan and Cranley stole some time prior to Stars’ recent in-store at Soundscapes to chat about the new album. As friends and family shoehorned into the small space and a pair of giddy kids ran around in their socks, the vibe was as convivial and warm as Stars’ music. But Millan insisted the band didn’t set out to make an album of love songs, its Feb. 14 release date notwithstanding.
“Well, I think that we are all in love at the moment. We fell in love over the past two, three years, so it sort of happened naturally,” she explained. “So it wasn’t as if we sat down and went, ‘Okay, guys—LOVE. Everybody, what do you feel about love? Let’s get some words…’ ‘Heart’ meaning that it took a lot to make this record. We didn’t have a lot of money, we had a lot of things that we thought were going to happen that didn’t happen, and so we had to overcome lots of barriers. And that came from our heart.”
“It’s a perfect picture of the last two years of our life, and where the band is now,” Cranley added. “It’s a storybook of us being friends and being in this band. This is our diary, our life in music.”
Heart was released on fledgling indie label Paperbag Records (also home to Broken Social Scene) after a major-label deal with Palm Pictures fell through. Recorded at home in Montreal, the album’s lush sound belies its D.I.Y genesis.
“We have our own studio, so we got to do it in Chris and Amy’s apartment, which made for a really great process because we weren’t under the gun or under the microscope in a big studio,” Cranley said. “We were free to experiment on how to make your own sound, without always watching the clock. So there was a lot of room for experimentation and just working, trying to get the best tones and sounds, over two years—we didn’t rush it. So with our limited amount of technology, we got the best stuff because we took our time.”
While the charismatic Campbell is undeniably the leading force behind Stars, the new album blends the quartet’s prodigious talents into a cohesive, distinct statement.
“It’s very democratic, I would say. Primarily, the people who jam mostly on the musical end of it are Evan and Chris, and Torquil and I write a lot of the lyrics. Torquil was the primary songwriter for the first record, Nightsongs, and then I came into the band, and I’m a songwriter, so they said, ‘Come on in, and write’. So we share it all, and it’s quite beautiful that way, then there’s no reason to fight about anything,” Millan laughed.
The band currently splits its time between Montreal and Toronto, drawing on the burgeoning energy in both scenes.
“You can really hide out in Montreal and do your thing,” Cranley said. “Whereas here there’s just so much industry and friends and family, so it’s nice to just sit and play and create music with your friends and not be bothered.”
Stars return to the ElMo Friday night as part of Outside Music’s CMW showcase before taking the soft revolution on the road with their Broken Social Scene comrades. Stars members played on the Scene’s album and often join their ever-expanding onstage band, while Scenesters Kevin Drew and Andrew Whiteman play guitar in Stars’ current live lineup. The two bands are torchbearers for a certain segment of the local indie scene that has been getting a lot of attention of late, and Cranley says it’s about time.
“I think that the landscape here is the best it’s ever been in a long time, and they’re just paying attention because it’s good music.”
“It’s gonna be great,” Millan chimed in. “It’s going to be a huge show. All of us, one night, in your city. Come out and give us some love.”
