*. Starring .*

Album: ABCDEFG-HIJKLMNOP-QRSTUV-WXYZ (2012)
Genre: Prog Rock (Psychedelic/Exp./Jazz/Post)  /  USA

Where many modern prog-rock bands emphasize the complexity of the compositions over emotional tonality and mood, Starring understands there’s a gleeful joy in playing and listening to prog; there’s a reason Robert Wyatt always has a twinkle in his eye. Starring takes elements of ’70s free-jazz, Krautrock, minimalism and ’90s post-rock and refastens them as a vessel for joy and positivity. Sure, it can be a jarring experience. Listening to ABC… often feels like getting peppered with a double-barrel paint-ball gun, but it’s such a bustling, hyper-active burst of color that you forgive the occasional bruise. The album reaches its dizzying height on its two longest tracks, “———ooooooooooo” and “….7….,” which both break the nine-minute mark. Given the opportunity to space things out and meander, the group is able to conjure a buoyant hypnotic power. “———ooooooooooo” begins with an interstellar section of Who-like organ vamping, warped guitar textures and pitter-patter percussion, before shifting to a mystical section of Hunter’s ethereal vocals, then transitioning to even more baroque organ noodling and finishing with romantic murmurs from Hunter. It’s repetitive, yes, but it’s also transfixing, like someone stretched a Beach House song into a thin membrane and wrapped it around the cosmos. “….7….” is more on the haunting and creepy side, using a searing violin part to set the stage for a noise-based guitar dirge. “Aphonia” is the closest the band comes to writing a traditional propulsive math-rock anthem. Its gradually shifting guitar line, lumbering drums and big cathartic vocal parts (“Oh, you’re such a smooth operator,” sings Hunter) provide a nice punk fulcrum between the intimidating pillars of “———ooooooooooo” and “….7….” That type of expert sequencing helps to give the record a vibrant sense of variety and color. At times the album plays like the Soft Machine’s Third rewritten using only Crayola’s, glitter and construction paper. Despite the band’s expert playing and sophisticated reference points, there’s still a child-like sense of wonder at work in these songs. Maybe that explains the curious title?  
Review by "Dan Jackson" (www.cmj.com).

RATING:  8 / 10

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