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The Stills
Without Feathers
(Vice/Warner)
We've heard of the sophomore slump. But the sophomore reinvention? That's a new one.
However, it's pretty much what The Stills serve up on their eye-opening second disc Without Feathers. Without Any Trace of Their Old Sound would be more like it.
On these 12 tracks, the Montreal indie-rockers do an about-face and ditch all the trappings of their 2003 debut Logic Will Break Your Heart. The art-rock posture? The moody post-punk grooves? The spiky guitars? All gone.
What really counts, though -- and what makes Without Feathers such a stunner -- is what they've been replaced with: The warm ambience, big keyboards, summery midtempo grooves, rich melodies, horn sections and earnest sentiments of classic heartland guitar-rock. That takes some serious guts to try. And it takes some serious talent and creativity to pull off as well as these guys do.
Tunes like In the Beginning, Destroyer and the Springsteenish It Takes Time are all delivered without irony, without cliche and without sounding like the work of dilletantes. Can't hear to wait where The Stills head next.
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Track Listing:
1. In the Beginning
2. Mountain
3. She's Walking Out
4. Helicopters
5. In the End
6. Oh Shoplifter
7. Outro
8. Halo the Harpoons
9. It Takes Time
10. Destroyer
11. Baby Blues
12. House We Live In