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Review: Shimmering Stars - Ghosts Past [EP]

Almost Musique | "Little more than a pleasant detour; not likely to yield any real lasting impression..."

by Jeremy Daniel, May 8th, 2012 and has been Read 782 times.
Last Edited by: Glen May 9th, 2012.

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Starting off with an obvious fact, there hasn't been a shortage of bands similar to Shimmering Stars in independent music in recent years now. To be more specific, the kind of acts whose sounds are cobbled together from pieces of everything from girl-groups and doo-wop to r&b and the earnest energy of early rock 'n' roll; often replete with the same sense of naivety that permeated much of the music culture during the 50's and 60's only molded to fit into a more modern context.

Crate digging the ghosts of music's past has long served as both a point of origin and source of inspiration for artists throughout the decades, particularly in independent music since the beginning of the 2000's when many bands and artists alike served as stylistic archaeologists of sorts, exhuming nearly every conceivable strand of popular and obscure music from discount record bins, family member's attics and flea markets and threading those strands into their own compositions to varying degrees.



For Rory McClure, it was old video footage of Everly Brothers performances that sparked his interest in making music. McClure (guitars and vocals) recruited Andrew Dergousoff on drums and Brent Sasaki on bass to form Shimmering Stars in 2010. The British Columbia trio quickly released a demo of songs followed by 2011's full length debut Violent Hearts, a barely half-hour collection of what (in some ways) sounded almost like a collection of long forgotten, dusty pop singles that sat in storage for nearly half a century.

The album was self-produced by McClure in his parents' garage (cheekily dubbed 'The Garage Mahal') and his lo-fi approach resulted in a murky, tape-worn glaze that coated the music; the drums sounded buried deep in the mix with each beat letting out a cavernous echo. The harmonies were ghostly and the emotions they harbored left the impression of condensation clinging to the smeared pane of a window that belonged to some quietly forgotten, crumbling house.

Watch: 'When I See You Again'

The lo-fi approach may have seemed fitting considering the musical styles committed to tape but in actuality, it did more to hinder than help. Listening to the album repeatedly, it isn't hard to wonder if maybe a few brighter hooks and harmonies are buried somewhere beneath the murkiness.

Another issue which plagued the album was its lack of variety, every one of its songs are solid and enjoyable enough, but the lack of nuance meant that as a whole, it blurred together with little impression. Ghosts Past offers a small glimmer of resolution to those problems along with a couple of enjoyable songs to round it out. The EP kicks off with 'Slaves', an older song whose eerie reverb, haunted harmonies and murky production gives the impression of a b-side to any number of cuts on Violent Hearts.



'Hold On Magnolia', a beautifuly aching take on a Songs: Ohia track, pays homage to the project's sole creative force Jason Molina (a source of inspiration for McClure) who is currently facing mounting medical bills in the wake of addiction treatment. 'When I See You Again' (the only new material on here) marks the first occasion in which the band entered a proper recording studio and the subtle differences are rewarding: the bass bubbles warmly from behind the brightly strummed guitars and chugging drums, both the reverb and harmonies are still as ghostly but here, they're allowed to shine a bit brighter.

It's a promising glimpse of where the band's sound could be headed on their next full-length but aside from that, Ghosts Past amounts to little more than a pleasant detour; not likely to yield any real lasting impression.

Ghosts Past is out now

Worth Listening To...

• When I See You Again
• Hold On Magnolia