Artist Stars

As Canadian indie rock has gotten more prevalent in America, it’s also become more familiar and less exciting. That isn’t the case for Montreal’s Stars, a bedroom project that’s blossomed into a solid quintet unafraid to rock out. Its 2007 album, In Our Bedroom After The War, turned heads for its romantic-pop story-songs—and the funky “The Ghost Of Genova Heights”—and after an EP in 2008 and cover of The Pogues’ “Fairytale Of New York” in 2009, the band released a new album, The Five Ghosts, in June. Ghosts cranks up the synths and male-female vocal dynamic, all without sacrificing the group’s gift for melody.

Updated 11/10/2010