Despite the proliferation of DIY music production tools, it is still very rare to hear an unsigned band put out a “professional” sounding album. A lot of bands go crazy with the production aspects. Either things get mixed too glossy, or they don’t utilize the tools enough. That is the first thing that struck me about Stellar Young. Everything At Once sounds great. They clearly cared enough about the resulting album to get shit done right.
Everything At Once is a shiny little indie rock record. The thing is filled to the brim with hooks. The band certainly has the chops to produce great songs. The album opens with “Playing With Guns,” which is a great example of what to expect. Catchy indie rock informed by power pop. Follow up songs “Restless” and “The Universe Is A Bully” are more of the same. A little faster, but just furthering the feel. These songs feature great interplay between the guitars.
Musically, this album is really strong. The two guitars and keyboard play off each other very well. There is definitely a lot going on, but nothing becomes super overpowering. The vocals (lead and background) are the real show. The vocal interplay on the (kind of) dancey “We Own Nothing” are probably the best example of this. Everyone is playing their part to a T.
Overall, I don’t have many complaints about this record. It might be a little long? The shortest song, “As You Go,” is just this side of four minutes. The songs are certainly good, but the end product feels a bit too much for me. A 10 song record coming in at 46 minutes is a little much (for this type of thing). Granted, I don’t listen to this kind of thing with much frequency. This is a minor quibble. If you want to listen to some well made indie rock that is heavy on the pop side of things, there is little reason not to give this a go. It is an enjoyable record that will probably put you in a good mood.
Stellar Young
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Team Reasonable 