:: Details
Your Black Star mostly need to get their business end together. They seem to have record deals in every part of the world but North America. Sound From The Ground, the Louisville, Kentucky, trio's second full-length, has so far seen release only in Japan and Australia (the U.K. will soon follow). Strange, because it's a perfectly good record, and the band appears to be doing its work on the road, including a stop at this year's SXSW. If anything, good songs and big sounds just aren't enough to beat back the feeling that Your Black Star are a bit of a genre study. The booming drum cadence that opens the record, on "Why Do I Wait," arrives courtesy of The Cure's "The Hanging Garden," and subsequent songs loiter near the darker sides of Disintegration and Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me. Folks will call these guys shoegazers, and they won't be entirely wrong. The rhythm section punches large and roomy, while high, ringing guitars gush atmospherics and fey-adjacent chorus vocals steer the brooding skyward—all within high-price mixes that defy three-man membership. "Oh Jesus..." is the money track here, its bright hooks sinking deepest, but "Surrounded" and "It's Important" make strong bids as well. With no-greater talents like The Killers and The Bravery taking hold, Your Black Star would seem poised for at least a shot at the mid leagues. But save for the odd Catherine Wheel, radio has never cozied to cavernous soundscapes, and these Kentuckians don't offer the bad-boy photogenics of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. However, given time and resources, their talent and good taste should moot any shoegaze lump-ins. Smart indie money will ink them and enjoy the evolution.
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