Stellastarr: Harmonies for the Haunted : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Stellastarr became New York hipster darlings a couple of summers ago with "My Coco," a five-minute blast of New Wave guitar tremors featuring the vocal yelps of guitarist Shawn Christensen and bassist Amanda Tannen. With other pop gems such as "Pulp Song" and "Jenny," Stellastarr promised greatness, which they fully deliver on their second album, Harmonies for the Haunted. Stellastarr sound playful but passionate, flashing their Eighties go-feet beats ("Damn This Foolish Heart") alongside moody, Cure-style ballads. Christensen sings in a stentorian bass, skipping up into a falsetto that evokes David Byrne getting strapped down on a bed of extremely cold nails. He broods over the torments of love in "On My Own," but the hit has to be the Pixies-ish "Sweet Troubled Soul," where he purrs, "I want to see your face/In the reflection of my bedroom stereo." It's a killer song from a killer band.