After three previous releases, all garnering great press and featured on a number of "album of the year" lists, "...it falls apart" was supposed to be For Stars' major label debut. But what started as a big poppy record soon became dark and then darker still. The members of for stars watched as the record began to create itself, and the band simply had to let go of the reins. The result is a dizzying, psychedelic journey -- a glimpse of beautiful, ethereal music coalescing into chaos. As SPIN said, "Every o   [ read more ]

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Carlos Foster may have the most gorgeous lonely voice in the history of pop music. One moment it cracks with agonizing desolation and the ache of unrivaled plaintiveness, and the next it is soaring into that high lonesome sound via a falsetto that is so utterly heartbreaking that it half sounds like crying. But what an intense emotional wallop it packs. And it directs the eponymous debut album from San Francisco's For Stars into wrenching emotional instability, with a haunting sound to match. The band   [ read more ]

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From the haunting, spacious opening buzz that opens the recording just before Carlos Foster lets loose his choked singing, it is instantly apparent that For Stars' second album is a different, more musically mature affair than their sensational debut. Windows for Stars is equally wonderful but is also an altogether more textural and spatially expansive effort that ultimately ends up a more satisfying listening experience. It recalls Brian Eno as often as '70s soft rock and pop, and there is so m   [ read more ]

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For Stars' brand of sadcore packs a punch on its third disc. "Wires" thunders along after its tentative start; "How It Goes" is expansive synth rock. Though Carlos Forster's vocals waver on the edge of annoying ("People Party"), there's a containment in his delivery (as on the ballad-like "Back in France" and "The Astronaut Song") that reveals he could sing just about any way he wants if he chose to. It's the silly but modern keyboard sounds that really distinguish what {$For S   [ read more ]

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