As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, The Starlets always seem to me to be two bands; a noisy, angular guitar band and a more elegant, bruised band, replete with violin and brass. ‘Radio Friendly’ is a song from the former band. It’s got a jagged, edgy feel to it with its nagging riff and buried melody, it barrels along pleasantly enough but seems to fizzle out having arrived at an unexpected destination someplace near nowhere fast. I’m sure the singer keeps singing, ‘You’re a pain in the arse’ over and over. Is that really radio friendly these days?
‘Maggie Loves Hopey’ is the latter Starlets, the one’s I truly adore. It’s an utterly delightful, delirious piece of sweet, downbeat melancholy, building up and teasing and tempting, with the piano and violin well to the fore. Even the title is worth full marks. Anyone who writes a song referencing the loveable pair from Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez’s Love And Rockets is cool by me. And they get full marks again for making such a wonderful job of it, creating an awesome pocket symphony. ‘At home in strange world’ indeed. Gorgeous.