FOR STARS
We Are All Beautiful People
Future Farmer
· All the members of For Stars want for Christmas is a symphony of their very own.
Over the course of their two previous albums, For Stars displayed a knack for fragile acoustic ditties sung in Carlos Forster’s near whisper, similar in spirit to Red House Painters or an unplugged Low. We Are All Beautiful People sees the group thinking somewhat bigger, in full stereophonic splendour.
"Wires" borrows a page from The Flaming Lips’ The Soft Bulletin, with symphonic accompaniment written by people who don’t really know how to – but pulling it off just fine, thanks – and Forster shouting, "I don’t want to be a turtle!" "In Open Plains" and "If I Could" fingerpaint with sound, working so perfectly as cruising music that I can hardly wait to drive to work in the morning. Yet, as grand as For Stars’ new orch-pop skills are, it is on the sparse, acoustic "Back In France" and "Only Star" that they’ve created not only their finest works, but two of the year’s finest love songs.
Like kids starting a rock band in their parents’ basement, with the volume turned down low so as not to disturb the neighbours, For Stars appreciate the power of a quiet gesture as much as a fully orchestrated pop tune. With We Are All Beautiful People, they’ve mastered them both.
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