Stars – From Capleton Hill

Last Gang Records

by Ben Boddez

The veteran Montreal indie-pop six-piece’s first album in five years takes a look back on two decades and nine projects of work, toning things down musically to offer some musings on cycles, rebirths and unexpected ends, touching on deaths both literal and metaphorical as they ponder what it will mean when longstanding life paths might come to a close.

While a couple tracks with a new synth-heavy direction and the band’s typical grandiose soundscapes still pop up from time to time, most of the album is acoustic and subdued to match Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan’s whispery, intimate duets.