With each song from Little Star we are afforded special access to private thoughts through pop with a sinister twist. The Portland, OR three-piece writes emotionally charged songs dripping with an intimacy that battles against the violent resistance to completely relinquishing the insights of our own sensitivities. Little Star puts insecurities on blast and embraces them with lines like “If I could just tell you how I feel once and for all I could sleep at night, but it’s hard to be myself,” only to immediately crush the sentiment under shredding guitar.
Standing in our own uncomfortableness for extended periods is not enjoyable. Maybe this is why across The Romantic World of Little Star confessions are followed with playful outs. The band builds on “Attention,” pleading “look at me, listen to me I need your attention. When it’s fall again I need your attention. No matter who you are I need your attention. Give me all of your attention.” Pleading personally at the start for anyone and expanding outwards into a universal plea for the complete focus of everyone. Our attention is fully invested in whatever it is Little Star is getting to. And then they go silent. No more words, only riding a riff into a fade-out.
Uncomfortableness is brought about not only by mirror-raising lyrics but also by going against our expectations. On “Happy January,” Little Star subjects us to over a minute of droning noise that builds over itself into a wave of brutality. The stark violence of this track hits even harder when coupled with the wide-eyed confessions found across The Romantic World of Little Star. Coming out of the daze, we can digest the track a number of ways. “Happy January” is the true tone of the record and the band, or it is the in-joke against the sincerity of the record. Maybe it is just the other side of the story, the devastation of the beauty of existing in this world and The Romantic World of Little Star.
Little Star is Daniel Byers (True Bummer, Eidolons), Kelsey Morris (Layperson, Post Moves), and Kyle Moderhak (The Domestics, Eidolons). You can buy their tape through Lobby Art Records off their bandcamp.
