Peter and the Wolf – Golden Stars

A collection of songs as good as Peter and the Wolf’s Golden Stars is an endlessly giving defense of the album form. The UK-based band’s fourth label-released album, Stars is a celebration of songwriting, a carnival of melody, of pre-choruses, bridges, post-choruses, choruses.
Every melody from Marc Sunderland’s strident, clear baritone is sticky like candy, classy like Bowie; and held aloft by crashing cymbals, clean and distorted guitars, a rhythm section stomping in metric joy. Album’s best, ‘Out of the Loop,’ does not take an easy-out ending but builds back up again just to let it down; opener ‘Duties’ swells back into climax when it was about to end too soon. Rarely going beyond three minutes, Stars‘ songs cannot outstay their welcome. Nine deep, ‘Chemistry Set’ confounds; where do they find all of these simple, elegant melodies? The abundance is impressive. Elsewhere Sunderland confesses, ‘I wanna talk about you’ but wonders, ‘Am I talking to myself?’ The title track, the longest, is a tale of betrayal, power and fear; perhaps the story of little Peter on the album’s cover, his head between wolf’s teeth. With melodies you need a crisis to escape from, Stars‘ tone is cheerful yet sinister. ‘I turn the radio off / We’re gonna make it alone.’ ‘Sinner Song’ ’s distorted slide guitar is an unrepentant reckless boy banging the joint apart, staggering in the wonderful but enveloping darkness; but by LP’s end the band is confessing they ‘just want to move a little closer’ to us. ‘So cork up the wine, there’s no need to fight / Cause I know my baby ’s ferocious.’ So is Stars. I can’t stay away.

Originally published at www.sunonthesand.com