Music Matters: Stars: "No One is Lost"

Stars - No One is Lost
Add to your "New Music" Spotify Playlist: "No One is Lost"

When pressed to answer the OK Cupid question, "What is your favorite band?" I usually say Stars, the indie-ish rock-ish band out of Toronto and other points Canadian. I first encountered Stars in December 2006 at the 9:30 Club. They opened up for Death Cab for Cutie and I was immediately stuck by how free they seemed on stage. They carried an air of grown-up playfulness that made them an absolute thrill to watch. When co-lead Torquil Campbell pulled out a trumpet and started wailing on it, I was hooked.

Two years later, the band headlined 9:30 while touring their anti-war opus "In Our Bedroom After the War."  This was just a few weeks before the 2008 presidential election and the feeling in the room was electric. Anticipation reverberated through the room and the band radiated flower power (and actual flowers which the they threw out into the audience) and the corresponding hopefulness. At one point during the show I was so overwhelmed that tears began streaming down my face. To this day, it was one of the most powerful shows I've ever been to.

On a fairly consistant candence, the band drops a new record and their latest come out on Tuesday. In classic Stars fashion, "No One is Lost," the title track, is an anthem for depressed extroverted outcasts who, no doubt, gleefully complie with the song's stark refrain: "Put your hands up, 'cause everybody dies/ put your hands up 'casue everybody dies (No on is lost)." Far from nihilistly hopeless, this refrain is driven home with a dance groove that permits this listener to revel in the glorious now.

For a selection of my favorite Stars tracks, check out my "Essential Stars" playlist of Spotifiy.