Flatbasset Radio's Album Of The Week for the week of June 16th-22nd, 2014:
The Starfolk - The Starfolk
01. The Great Unknown
02. Come And Play
03. Kindness Of Strangers
04. To The Gate
05. Sow The Seed
06. Midnight Moon
07. Sleeping Without Dreaming
08. True Blue
09. Into The Clouds
10. Winterwalk
11. Wake Up Machine
12. From Above
The Starfolk's been on my radar for quite a while now. Back in October of 2008 The Current posted "Wake Up Machine" as their Song Of The Day. As you probably know by now, I have a needlessly elaborate system of spending a week with each SOTD track (which eventually birthed the Songs Of The Week posts) as well as consistently revisiting those tracks over the years.
I was never particularly blown away by "Wake Up Machine" (in my defense, the version posted in '08 is far inferior to the fully realized version on The Starfolk). However, last August The Current posted "To The Gate," a song both MinneSarah & I thoroughly enjoyed. Since that week I've always kept The Starfolk in the back of my mind as an album I should spend some time with.
Fast forward to last Sunday when, in my search for this week's album, I strolled through the Electric Fetus until this one caught my eye. I picked it up and, a week later, I couldn't be more pleased with the record.
As I understand it, most people came to The Starfolk with somewhat formed opinions of the band. Co-lead singer Brian Tighe is well known from his work fronting The Hang Ups & The Owls and fans of those bands inevitably make up a good chunk of The Starfolk's fanbase. Hell, three quarters of The Starfolk are made up by people who also play in The Owls.
I, however, have never knowingly heard The Hang Ups or The Owls. After spending a week with this album I'm certainly inclined to check them out though. The Starfolk is a well-exectuted, thoughful pop album. Tighe and his bandmates Allison LaBonne, Jacqueline Ultan, & Stephen Ittner have been playing this sort of bouncy chamber pop for so long that the songs come across with a sense of ease that makes the album breeze by. There are hints of Luna, hints of Ivy, hints of The Velvet Underground... If you're a fan of any of that, definitely look into The Starfolk.
In fact, look into it right here on The Starfolk's Bandcamp page. Really. Give it a spin.
