Crushed Stars – Farewell Young Lovers

Crushed Stars
Farewell Young Lovers
Similacra Records
★★★★★

It’s snowing . . . again. It has been off and on for weeks now. Some nights are worse than others. Right now, it’s a culmination of snow falling from the sky and snow being wistfully blown around forming drifts. The cold outside gives a silent serenity to it all. Deep in the throes of winter, this Midwestern landscape is a sobering polar expressionist statement. At times a beautiful feeling, while others a symbolic simile to human nature.

I want to imagine what Cambridge is like. I have never been to Boston or its outlying areas although I am sure I will visit one day. Winters in Massachusetts can be cruel, squalls and power storms that come barrelling through. You can gain an understanding why Galaxie 500 chose Yoko Ono’s “Listen, I Can Hear The Snow Falling,” as one of their legendary covers.

Crushed Stars – Flowerbomb

On his new album, Crushed Stars have somehow managed to outdo themselves, which after listening to In The Bright Rain, I imagined it not possible. But here it is in the proverbial flesh ready to woo you on those soft-skinned days.

“Our Interest In Claire” is everything a Galaxie 500 song contains. The slow strums allow the sunlight to permeate your senses. Gautreau’s voice sounds a million miles away jaunting the fiber of emotions. I’m in love with every guitar note and chord that swoons about.

And the way these chords collide in “This Happens Every Time” is one step shy of perfections. A perfect post-autumn serenade, Gautreau sings, “When all the leaves have fallen down,” the song moves at the speed of small town life.

It’s not all rain falling down a window pane. The opener is an endearing and warm pop jangle delicately angsty in the three-chord rhythm but playful in the intricate post punk drum pattern that competes with Gautreau’s whimsy.

A first for Crushed Stars, “Haters” is as punk as anything Magazine has done. The new direction does not phase Gautreau as he still presses on with an alternative daze. We still gaze with doe eyes.

On the other end of the spectrum, “poppies” is ambient bliss; a soft spoken frequency of texture that inconspicuously blends in. It is a nice touch to the added synths that adequately fill in the gaps. Nothing to ostentatious, but it is put on a higher level of attractiveness than their previous efforts.

Every time I listen to this album I fall in love all over again. And yet, I cannot get enough. It does not get more elegant than the Crushed Stars.