Stella Luna Album Recommendations: "Stargazer"

Album Recommendations: Stargazer

The old five-point scale has been retired in favor of just rating stuff 1-10, which allows me a much more nuanced final rating. Still don't take it that seriously. Most of these come from my own collection, so the grades skew rather high. Your results may vary if you send me stuff to review.

Each album is given three Essential tracks, my personal favorites, regardless of how weird and inconsequential they are. The Quintessential pick is the one I think best represents the album as a whole, so you can try one song instead of a whole album of songs. Non-Essential picks range from merely disappointing to outright unlistenable.

Stella Luna

[#] Stargazer (2002)

The mystique matches the music for once.

Reviewed April 28, 2018

Tell me if this sounds like fantasy: five newcomers release a half hour, four-track EP as blurred as their album art at the dawn of the millennium, recorded on space-age analog equipment, only to disappear without a trace. The album is later celebrated and poured over by music geeks scattered across the internet as a solid entry into a genre that had all but died before Finelines introduced it to a new generation. This is the story of Jacksonville, Florida's Stella Luna. Aside from a Blogspot promising new material in 2010 and a demo of another song appearing on YouTube, they've been missing for over twenty years now. Making matters worse? You'll find a lot to love about that EP.

Despite the ostensible calm of its smoggy atmosphere, there's something vital, destructive even, thrashing about inside Stargazer. The opener here, "Change", puts sticky, paralyzing bitterness on display, while "Antares" parts the crashing waves of garbage can drums and smeared guitars just long enough to make a break for it. Hints of other prominent shoegazing artists show up in the mix as well. The title track plays like a long-lost Slowdive cut, while "Change" sounds like Hum when they inevitably get winded off the rocket fumes. Though the ending is a little meandering, Stargazer is a clattering, skyward EP that makes you wish Stella Luna stuck around just a little while longer.