Stellarscope Album review

Stellarscope, a perennial favourite on the indie bands blog, have a new 11 track album set for release on 25th November 2011, blending indie-pop textures with throwbacks to the last two decades of the 20th Century. As soon as I have links for the release of the eponymous album. I’ll share them, for now, this is what is sounds like.

Stellarscope by  Stellarscope

Stellarscope by Stellarscope

You always know, opens the album with the familiar space-pop that is Stellarscope, before hurtling in to a strident chorus. Highly echoed vocal hums behind a powerful drum and the guitar swirls around the track as the band set their marker for the album.

 What happened here? Demonstrates the versatility of the band as they lift the listener on another flight in to the ether. Superb instrumentation layers the track with a shimmering light. I feel roots further back than the late ’80s and find myself thinking of Hawkwind, albeit it on a far tighter reign.

 

With a sense of bangra perspectives,  Fight another day finds the band off in to a clearer space, rapid, untouched guitar flashes like a kuri from the speakers, as a rock driven track sears past the ear drums.

 

Beauty awaits – A scintillating opening to the lengthy track (nearly 6 minutes), as Stellarscope give the audience a respite with a meno mosso track, in fact it takes until 1:42 in to the piece that the vocal interjects, with the comfort of a hot-chocolate after a hard night out.  The well paced composition provides a showcase for the three members of the band to shine. I could happily listen to this for another 6 minutes.

 

Are we away to the fun-fare? Tangled web we weave, opens with a high pitch, before the essential echo and reverb kicks-in. Like the alarm clock the morning after the night before, the switch in tempo catches the listener unaware, before the signature sound of the band is given space to breathe and the powerful soundscape mellows itself around the room.

 

Feel the pain takes us in to the second half of the album, an interesting blend of hip-hop pace vocal accompanying a swelling guitar and samples. Throughout the track the pace gently ups its rate and sounds of Californian punk-pop can be heard emerging from the background. A cleverly worked piece of music.

 

I am so alone, switches to a drum led emphasis, as the clip-clop of a horse trot tempo, drives a gently echoed vocal towards greater efforts. The mournful sense of the track is something Stellarscope manage to develop successfully and is a direction it would be great to hear them work with more often in the future.

 

It is at this point in the album that the sheer ability of the band hits like a blinding headache, there are only three people in Stellarscope.

 

It is so sad to say finds the band in a space, which enables their compositional skills to shine again. The sheer depth of technique displayed by the trio is exposed to full glare in this track, scoring high marks, as they constantly change tempo and  instrumentation.

 

By track 9, This we know, seems an apposite title. The listener knows they are a shoegaze psychedelic band with a trio who are able dexterously to turn their hand across a range of instruments, tempo and shade to produce some stunning sounds. This track doesn’t let that perception fall down.

 

She is no angel, is a far dirty place as riffed guitar meets gauzed keys, combined with a superb drop by an octave in vocal finds Stellarscope in a space I can’t help but enjoy. This may not be natural home to the band, but on a personal level this track alone makes the whole album a must for the playlist.
The finale – This is only fair, finds the band homing in to their natural turf as the space outing comes to a conclusion and the proud owner of this release can feel they have made a superb choice in Stellarscope by Stellarscope.

 

Much as I would love to provide the opportunity to listen to a track or two from this superb release, I can’t, so to find out more about about the band have a listen to stellarscope on the indie bands blog.

 

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  1. [...] album coming out Black Friday 2011!!! We are humbled by this review… Thanks a million!! https://www.indiebandsblog.com/indie-bands-blog-round-up/new-releases/stellarscope-album-review GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Origin", "other"); [...]

  2. [...] IndieBandBlog review of Stellarscope self titled album coming out Black Friday 2011!!! We are humbled by this review… Thanks a million!! https://www.indiebandsblog.com/indie-bands-blog-round-up/new-releases/stellarscope-album-review [...]



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