Stars - Set Yourself On Fire

Set Yourself On Fire would've needed to house something pretty special for any of its songs to top "Celebration Guns", and indeed there's nothing on it to match that plangent, sighing, gently scudding ode (I've likened it to "Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl" before, and I still think the comparison apt), though "One More Night (Your Ex-Lover Remains Dead)" goes close; but what there is, is an unassuming and likeable collection of spacey, electro-inflected indie-pop (the others that I already knew - "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead", "Set Yourself On Fire" and "Ageless Beauty" - are still nice, too), mostly down-tempo, touched occasionally and lightly by some unintrusive chamber-pop elements...soft-edged fuzzed-out guitars and pretty singing (both girl and boy) galore - and after all, we like nothing better (ahem) than tuneful indie electro-pop boy/girl duets, right? The record's not especially memorable either in its component parts or as a whole, and the songcraft is a bit lacking in places (ie, a few songs meander without going anywhere), but all up it's pretty good for what it is.