"The Bedroom Demos" LP by The Stars

Stars - Take Me to the Riot
Stars - Midnight Coward
Stars - Bitches in Tokyo(Fuck U I love You)

Oh man, I am so sorry its taken me so long to write a review, but I'm sure that's not what you actually came here for, so lets just get on with the review eh? In fact, to make up for the loss of time, I thought I would do something truly epic to get the fun started all over again.

Thanks to Pandora, I've been getting a earful of new Stars, or so I thought it was. You see, the first "new" song by them I heard on Pandora was "Personal", which I loved. A couple of weeks later "Midnight Coward" came on and boy did I love that one too.

Flash forward a good three weeks when I'm playing around with Spotify and trying to make the most awesome playlist ever, so I search for "Midnight Coward" once more, and I come upon the copy from "The Bedroom Demos". At first I don't even take notice that the LP came out in 2011, too excited by the fact that "Personal" seems to be on it as well.

"But wait!" many of you are saying "Both those songs actually come from the LP "In the Bedroom after the war". And if you did shout that, then yes, you would be right.

So what's so special about this new album which apparently has all the exact same songs as the band's favorite self made album? Well, I can't do justice in trying to thematically disassemble it, but here's a quote from the site that might help you out a bit.

"In the spring of 2011, much had changed for the band. Parents had been lost and made, homes left behind and built anew. On a break from touring their new record, 'The Five Ghosts' the band reached back and remembered an affinity with the Breakglass sessions – 'Barricade' recorded with one microphone, an epic solo on 'My Favourite Book'. Jace found the tapes, wine lined the windowsill for a weekend, and the demos finally found their way out of the studio.

Here they are, please enjoy." - http://www.thebedroomdemos.com/

The first difference you'll notice when you take a back to back listen of each song is the highly remastered quality of the 2007 album. The clarity in the distinction between voices and instruments as well as the distinction between all the instruments is very noticeable. Of course, that is something you would notice if you recorded the previous album in an actual bedroom with less capital and equipment.

When we consider the core structure and stylistic themes, most songs are very similar to their counterparts, but with the quality changes, the band feels completely different. The band that you hear in "Bedroom Demos" is much more fragile, even with songs like "Bitches in Tokyo" with it's glorious power still intact and perhaps even rawer, you feel a distinct difference and a subtle weakness of humanity that's missing in the 2007 LP.

When someone listen to The Stars, even as a first time listener, the first two things that one can appreciate are the amount of effort put into the mastering and production as well as the beautifully crafted songs. This new album forces the listener to focus very much on the second part.

A second difference comes into play in the stylistic themes that they decided to take between some songs. The things that they are trying to focus on, or even sometimes the mood is radically different. For instance, try listening to the 2007 version of "Personal" and then the "Bedroom Demo" version. In the beginning you won't notice that many differences, but as the song progresses, one decides to take a poly-rhythmic back beat while the other maintains with the steady fading.

Or check out the headlining song "In Our Bedroom after the war" from both albums. One focuses much more on mood set by the instruments while the other puts more effort into the voice, changing the songs completely.

If you like what you hear here, you should definitely check out either of the two albums. If you're more into Ben Folds than Metric, then check out "Bedroom Demo" first, but if you're more interested in the production and orchestration "In the Bedroom After the War" is probably more for your tastes.

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