Darkstar News From Nowhere [Warp, 2013]

James Buttery, Aiden Whalley, and James Young are the trio behind Darkstar, a new age/electro-indie group from West Yorkshire. At first, I wanted nothing to do with this album as soon as I heard how pervasive the perversely saccharine vocals were across almost every track. For those who love indie, “those” referring to a group sans myself, the vocal work shows a considerable amount of talent, especially with all the various modulations distinct to almost each track. Personally, I think that this is an album that should have stayed instrumental. Its tracks like “A Day’s Pay for A Day’s Work” that infuriatingly making my point: Gorgeous synth and piano work over a reasonable structure that all manages to die at the hand of cringe-inducing vox. People will disagree with me, which is great because this trio’s production skills deserve a bit of payoff. If anything, Darkstar will appeal to Animal Collective fans.

RECOMMENDED: 1, 2, 3!, 8, 9!
CLEAN