Children of The Stones “The Stars and The Silence” (Saint
Marie, 2014)

Here is the full length we alluded to in our review of last
month’s “Extended Play” EP. The same arty effects and soundbytes permeate the
release (opener “Love’s Last Loss”, with its distorted, warped vocals and
glitchy effects sounds like a film stuck in a projector), but they are effectively
offset by Martin Maeers’ beautiful, sensitive vocals that jostle for attention
with Mark Van Hoen’s electronic backings and occasional guitar embellishments
courtesy Neil Halstead that all raise the results above pretentious studio
trickery.

                The
title track is still a highlight, with its New Order-ish backbeat and
boy-next-door vocals that the girls will swoon over, and it’s matched by the
perfectly titled chill out floater “Just Like Coming Down” (which makes a
lovely companion with Spacemen 3’s “Feel So Good” and Primal Scream’s “I’m
Coming Down”).

                I’d
still like to hear a little more “oomph” injected into the release, as the
middle of the album, with tracks like “Ever Within”, “Roll Complete”, and
“Tethered” is a little too meandering, verging into Enoesque ambiance, Bowie’s
“Low” period, and soundtrack cue music. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, and
is actually quite pretty and meditative, and things do pick up with the funky
swagger of the Love & Rockets-styled stomper “Toward The Umbra”, but listeners
should be prepared to temper the get-up-and-dance expectations generated by the
earlier EP with extended moments of peaceful navelgazing…or, as the title
suggests, thousand yard stares into the night sky contemplating the stars and
the silence that envelops them.

Review made by Jeff Penczak/2014

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