Blue's Clues is a long forgotten and great children's show. It teaches a child to search for things that will help them to figure things out out in the future. Only the extremely attentive will notice the snail -- oh, that wretched snail! -- it would pop up from time to time in certain scenes behind the toy box or Sidetable. It was really quite an accomplishment to notice it for me as a kid watching the show. But now seeing such a creature only pains me; what I SHOULD be paying attention to has now been pushed aside and is largely unimportant in comparison to the task at hand. Likewise, some albums in music can become so mundane and boring, for lack of a better word, that it forces you to pay attention to something largely unnoticeable. This, unfortunately, can lead to having half-listened to the album/song/band. If this psychological wandering occurs chronically while listening to the same album, you've probably got a bad album on your hands.
Unfortunately, this was mostly the case in 'Star is Just a Sun', the third LP by the Norwegian post-rock/ slowcore trio, The White Birch. (In fact, I was half asleep until the Spotify commercial came on.)
Sumner-esque vocals, simple piano tunes, and occasional orchestration and drum-beats put a potentially good idea to waste. The same vocal melodies and simplicity of this record that causes me to wander away from it often. This unsophistication occurs on the song following the opening interumental, "Breathe", a track that bears these same characteristics as a mere 4 notes are additively performed on the piano above windy-sound effects -- it sounds like a kid who has just had his first piano lesson. That said, the lyrical quality is top-notch: "Light is a stain, a ball without a chain... Gaze becomes eyes to crystal rollerdice..." Reading like a dreadful break-up letter, I quickly grow to love this song; however, these lyrics, consequencially, are inaudible because of the vocals, thus my primary listen to the song was a mundane one. The next track, "Silly Malone", leads me to another problem one will consistently have with this album: One may listen to an album and say it is a good album, but he may not be able to remember the tunes of any of the tracks, making him question the validity of his opinion. I think "Silly Malone" is a good song, but no matter how much I listen to it, I cannot remember its melodies because of the boredom that surrounds it. Therefore, this album's shortcomings are mainly derivative of the uncreative instrumentation and lazily written refrains.
"Beauty King" is one of the few songs that catches my attention as soon as it starts. Rather quickly-paced in comparison to the rest of the songs, its hooks are present and effective as catchy guitar jangles and atmospheric background sound; definitely the best track on the LP. "Riot" is also an OK song, relatively catchy but, in strong contrast to the title of it, slightly sleep-inducing. "Donau Movies", whose theme remains undefined ("Let me call you Donau, like the sea in the river that flows in me") is completely boring, a very good example of the fact that most of the songs on 'Star is Just a Sun' don't progress any further than a few notes on a few instruments and humdrum parallelism. It may as well have just ended there, because I had no choice but to stop paying attention once the last two tracks, "Glow" and "Atlantis" came a-playin'. This band clearly has some sort of raw talent and lyrical insight; the problem is that they aren't using it properly.
The White Birch constantly sings great, melancholy lyrics; usually, this will cause the listener to want to listen to a record all the time because it causes emotional attachment -- one should be glad that they have some sort of outlet. 'Star is Just a Sun' fails at this, miserably, in fact: "I would like to see your face, pushing frenzily to end the race... Like moving cars on common soil, like turning stars in a tender coil." This verse is sung on track 4, "Love Is So Real." The fact that one can barely even understand these lyrics as they are on the track originally is a main off-putter about it to me; the song is so boring that if I could at least understand the words I would enjoy "Love Is So Real" remotely. However, I hate this song because of that. And that is the main reason I hate most of the album.
A good thing about this LP is that it is very good to just chill-out to. This aesthetic is certainly essential in some types of music, most notable slowcore. It doesn't necessarily induce or point out any feeling, nor does it isolate and particular one emotion; therefore, while listening to 'Star is Just a Sun', I find all my emotions funneling out of my heart, and I become apathetic for a while. Unfortunately, this is the ONLY instance under which I would ever want to listen to this album again.
In summary, 'Star is Just a Sun' falls short of my approval because of its lack of aesthetic as well as lazily written, non progressive compositions that induce slumber more than enjoyment in all cases. Whether or not they have the capacity to become musically captivating is questionable; what they are trying to do is very vague, and they show no form of progression in most of their songs. This concept makes me pay attention to things outside the music, requiring some other form of entertainment. These "snails" are usually what I remember more than the album, regrettably. I can't say I love this record. 1.5/5
