Stardeath and White Dwarfs – The Birth

To this point, it has been an interesting road to say the least for Dennis Coyne and company. For years Coyne, as well as band mates Casey Joseph and Matt Duckworth, served as faithful roadies to the Flaming Lips (Dennis Coyne is the nephew of Lips frontman Wayne Coyne). Later, the three young men formed a band and began opening shows for the venerable act. It was 2004 when the band came to fruition and Dennis et al are finally getting their chance to show off their chops on Stardeath and Whites Dwarfs’ debut, The Birth. And they make the most of it. The Birth features some of the best psychedelic music that has been released in some time and that includes the music of the band that the Dwarfs have worked and toured with for so long: the Flaming Lips. Despite the numerous connections between the two bands and the unmistakable influence that the Lips have on the Dwarfs, they manage to stand on their own as a band all themselves, miles away from what anyone else is doing musically.

For a debut album, The Birth is filled with maturity and depth thanks to the guidance of primary songwriters Coyne (guitar, keyboards, and vocals) and Joseph (bass). It plays more like a third or fourth album as opposed to a debut because of the band has an already developed distinct sound – trippy psychodelia with layers upon layers of fuzzed guitars, groovy bass lines, tenderly strummed acoustics, avant garde noises swirling about, and harmonized vocals. More importantly is that even with their clear idea of artistic direction, no one song sounds overly similar without veering off the path.

The opening track, “The Sea on Fire”, is a rocking song with a hypnotic groove. As soon as the song ends you are greeted with the catchy harmonized pop rock song that is the bands first single, “New Heat”. Next they slow it down for the first time for the melancholy “Keep Score”. But you can’t forget the bands instrumental jam “Those Who Are From The Sun Return To The Sun.” Catch my drift yet? The album’s centerpiece is the self-titled track which encompasses everything the album has to offer. It seems to take an element from each song and rolls it into one. It has the experimentation, the guitars, the harmonies wrapped into one 4:16 song. Having such diversity on an album without losing its focus is a rare thing to see especially for a band still in its infancy.

To anyone who looks at Stardeath from the outside and attempts to peg them as a rehash of the Lips needs to sit down and take a listen to this album. The Birth not only proves their worth as a band, it will undoubtedly be the best debut album this year if not one of the best albums period. It has all the makings of a great album: it has memorable songs, great production, and picture perfect execution. Amazingly, for all of its accomplishments it’s a relatively short album, fitting ten songs into a brisk 34 minutes making it a joy to listen to. Being that this is the band’s first full length album it is an enormous accomplishment. If this is the bands “birth”, I truly can’t wait until it is fully grown.

Tagged as: oklahoma city, psych pop

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