STARSAILOR
Love Is Here (Capitol)
Reviewed by Jason Thornberry

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Named after a 1970 Tim Buckley album, Starsailor dwell in the realm of hooky post-Brit-Pop choruses, hoping no one will notice there isn't much else going on. At all. It's great when Oasis do it, but the instantly notable nah-nah-nahs of Manchester's finest are really the cream atop a mountain of carefully-crafted writing that really owes as much to Bacharach/David as it does Lennon/McCartney.

Starsailor appears indebted to one Joyce C. Hall and family (she was the founder of Hallmark cards). Unfortunately a case of anniversary greetings got ransacked for a number of congenial but dog-eared haikus by whomever won the lyric-writing wager for Love Is Here, an occasionally ambitious debut. Random lo-fi tracks like "Lullaby" would suggest that they simply threw some demos in to pad the affair.

Don't wake up, it's nearly over.

GRADE: C-.

© 2002 - Jason Thornberry