New York fuzz rock outfit Been Stellar have just released their brand new long-player ‘Scream From New York, NY’ on their new label Dirty Hit, its ten tracks are drenched in distorted guitar lines, and powerful, emotive vocals.
To become a fan of a band I’ve not heard before, an album is usually the way to go, and it’s not any different for Been Stellar. Their collection of ten refined and wonderfully evocative tracks have captivated me from the beginning of the album, until its bitter end. ‘Start Again’ introduces a slow and soft sound, a warm and colourful rock’n’roll vibe with a confident attitude and nearly crooning vocals. On ‘Passing Judgment’ Been Stellar throw a punk rock sound into the mix, a favourite of mine, energetic, driving, and pushed forward by those memorable vocals that now live in my head rent free, “passing judgment without hope…” again, and again.
The album is brutal, bruised and volatile, and captures an image of ’20s New York that is unrelenting and harsh, “where tenderness is a finite resource burned up by the machinery of the city and human connection is a luxury product”, a tenderness combined with bitterness we hear most on ‘Pumpkin’. They have exchanged their driving shoegaze sound for a sound a la Sonic Youth and Interpol, and the yearning cool of bands such as Iceage. They make an emotive and bitter sound sound raw and beautiful, empowering almost. A hint of stubbornness shows on ‘Sweet’, on which they turn up the fuzz and embrace hints of alternative indie and rock. “‘Sweet’ talks about moments in life when words break and feelings take over.”
The band that will be performing at Tramlines, TRUCK, and Latitude show that bands don’t need to be screaming nor crawling stages with their legs high up in the air to be completely captivating. On ‘Shimmer’ they’ve truly hooked me, and I’m unable to let go, the track is a soaring and elevating one with stunning vocals and a powerful soundscape. Having come from a single that quite often breaks its inhabitants, Been Stellar have done well for themselves and made a diamond out of hardship. That is told in a funny coincidence on the album’s closer ‘I Have The Answer’, this fuzzed up rock track and its slow burning intro brings a soundscape moving like mountains going into valleys and back up again. It sums up what caught my attention about Been Stellar’s stellar sound, the power and energy to go through lows to get to the highs. More, I need more.
As its wry title implies, ‘Scream From New York, NY’ is a record about what happens when language fails – between friends, partners, a city and its citizens – and the primal scream you might let out when words just don’t work anymore.
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