Stars Of Track And Field - A Time For Lions
Rating
RIYL
ColdplayKeane
Paper Route
Release Date
09/15/2009
Label
Wind Up RecordsTracklist
1. Racing Lights2. End of All Time
3. The Breaking of Waves
4. Now Life Your Eyes To The Sun
5. In Bright Fire
6. Peeling Away
7. Through The Static
8. Safety In Numbers
9. The Aviator
10. The Stranger
11. Sunrise Ends
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Stars of Track and Field may sound all grown up on A Time For Lions, but that isn’t necessarily the case. While the band trades their The Postal Service sound for a Coldplay guise, they seem too shaky on their new sonic appendages to make much of an impact. The album is more failed experimentation than progression as a result, but it’s one that is probably necessary for success in the long run.
The opening beeps and bloops of “Racing Lights” that soon morph into loud radio rock show that the band has not lost their electronic edge, but there’s not a doubt Stars of Track and Field is determined to take a step forward in the direction of accessibility. Little here connects them to their hipster Portland brethren – in fact, album centerpiece “End Of All Time” has an appetite to drill itself into your twelve-year old sister’s iPod.
This concept in itself is fine; some artists pull off the mainstream sound better than they pull off the indie one. With A Time For Lions, however, it’s simply too early to decide which one works better for Stars of Track and Field. The album seems to drag on forever on some tracks, then hits an excellent song, and then gets quagmired again. It’s like playing Mario Kart with a broken acceleration button; you only ever speed up when you get one of those Mushroom items, and even then it only lasts for a few seconds. It’s obvious the band is still developing in this change in songwriting, but in the mean time they’re miles away from writing consistently good material.
Nevertheless, when inspiration hits, inspiration hits. “Racing Lights” and “The Breaking of Waves” hint at Brit-pop mastery, while “In Bright Fire” is climbing and triumphant in musical texture. “Safety In Numbers” actually recalls Conor Oberst with its pretty descending melody, and “Sunrise Ends” closes the album on a gorgeous note. So it’s a disappointment when potentially solid tracks like “The Aviator” and “End Of All Time” commit suicide by sporting the most anti-climactic choruses, or when “Now Life Your Eyes To The Sun” and “Peeling Away” come across as just too boring. The potential is present, but the proper use of it isn’t.
The most awkwardly bombastic number, “The Stranger,” ponders, “These days I feel like a stranger / Inside a polythene skin / You can’t always get just what you always believe in,” ironically summing up A Time For Lions. Stars of Track and Field sound and feel uncomfortable and unaccustomed most of the time on this one, and that’s something they can either accept and use to advance their career, or deny and detain progression. They’re not an unlikeable band, so I’m hoping they go with the former.
--Matthew Tsai
Comments
Fort Bragg, CA
I still need to give this one a listen. Good review, sir!