Skip to main content[SHOEGAZER POP] Portland's Stars of Track and Field is a slickly produced space-rock trio that writes formulaic songs powered by indulgent, swelling guitar-rock choruses and mechanical-sounding vocal harmonies. Basically, this band is the anti-Portland.
Making matters more confusing, SOTAF is also really good. The band's new album, Centuries Before Love and War, is a downright radio-rock epic, and—with its major-label support—it has an outside chance at being among Portland's biggest releases of 2007.
But don't play your sellout card just yet. The oft-delayed Centuries—some of which originally surfaced on SOTAF's 2005 EP, You Came Here for Sunset Last Year—sounded like a major-label album well before Wind-up (Sony/BMG) stepped in. In fact, Wind-up bought Centuries from California indie label SideCho Records and released it totally untouched.
And, yes, the shimmering musical peaks and valleys on Centuries are highly navigable, but their predictable nature leaves SOTAF's songs no less rocking. Chalk that victory up to both Tony Lash's (Dandy Warhols, Heatmiser) lush production and the band's own sonic intuition. From the twisting, Swervedriver-esque buildups and wall-of-sound breakdowns of "Say Hello" to the warm beats and sandpaper harmonies of "Lullaby for a G.I/Don't Close Your Eyes," SOTAF's studio skills are that plump, juicy carrot at the end of the stick.
Lyrically, Jason Bell and Kevin Calaba take the Thom Yorke approach, preferring splintered, cataclysmic catch phrases over fleshed-out storylines, but unlike Yorke's illuminating delusions, SOTAF's lyrical shrapnel often fails to match the band's epic thrashes and wails. Even then, though, Bell and Calaba's innate sense of vocal timing and careful harmonies do the trick. Other times, the group's vocal mantras are nothing more than complementary percussion to Daniel Orvik's violent drumming and programmed loops: On "Arithmatik," the singers fall out of the picture for a few bars, then repeat "Yes/ No/ Yes/ No/ Yes/ No/ Yes" over the rise and fall of bursting power chords.
Really, though, these guys could be singing Stryper lyrics and no one would notice. It's the way they sing, and the ethereal moments that propel their words, that make Stars of Track and Field forgivably, even lovably, radio-ready.
Stars of Track and Field plays with the Thermals and Tea For Julie Monday, Feb. 19, at the Crystal Ballroom. 9 pm. $9.47. All ages. Also see Monday listings. Don't hate SOTAF's pop because it's beautiful.
WWeek 2015