Star of Love

Star of Love is the debut studio album by English/Spanish electronic artists Crystal Fighters, originally released on 4 October 2010 through Zirkulo records.^[3] Two subsequent releases have been issued, an Australasian Limited Edition and a worldwide Deluxe Edition, released on 4 February and 8 August 2011, respectively. The album constitutes a blend of many genres, from 80's Spanish punk and Basque folk to straight Electro and Dubstep.^[4][5] Star of Love was written and produced almost entirely by Crystal Fighters themselves and released through the band's own record label, Zirkulo.

The name of the album is a backronym of SOL, the Spanish word for "sun".^[6] The songs on the album were developed over a period in which the band were mainly engaged in live performances, as opposed to concerted song-writing, and recorded after "much experimentation" in the studio.^[7]

Star of Love was generally well received by critics, with the Deluxe Edition receiving higher praise still. The album charted in both the UK and Belgium with moderate rankings, five of the six released singles also achieving some chart success throughout Europe. The singles also received a lot of attention from fellow musicians / music producers and a large number of remixes have been released, some even receiving media coverage of their own.^[8] A number of accolades have been given to both the album and the singles, with "Xtatic Truth", "In The Summer", "At Home" and "Plage" all being nominated as a "Single of the Week" by various publications at some point.

Development

The general theme and feel of the album stems from singer Laure Stockley's grandfather's writings; specifically an opera he was working on during the breakdown of his mental health and shortly before his death.^[9] Star of Love is a continuation of, and homage to, his writings concerning "the unfathomable mystery of the universe, the turbulent journey towards being at peace with death, the triumph of love, and the omnipotence of the sun".^[10] Some reviewers however, have been sceptical of these claims. BBC's James McMahon said, of the story, "It's almost certainly a lie – but it beats "band formed in garage" hands down".^[3] What this actually equates to is a combination of traditional Basque instruments, such as the txalaparta, the danbolin and the txistu;^[11] mixed in with "filthy bass drops",^[12] electro driven bass lines and a bit of Spanish punk included also.^[4]

Release and promotion

Their first studio album, Star of Love was released a full year after the release of their first single, "Xtatic Truth".^[4] During this time, the band continued to work on the rest of the songs on the album, focusing mainly on continuity, given its many blended genres.^[13]

An extended "Limited Edition" version of the album was released exclusively in Australia on 4 February 2011; featuring additional acoustic versions of the tracks "Follow", "Xtatic Truth", "Plage", "Champion Sound" and "At Home".^[14] The album was well received although did not have any chart success. James Hull of The AU Review awarded the album 9.5 out of 10, praising both the original tracks and the newly added acoustic ones with equal vigour.^[15]

Artwork

The album artwork was commissioned to artist John Stark, the artist responsible for the cover for the Commix album, Call to Mind (2007). The original bespoke oil painting took six weeks to complete.^[16]

Singles

"Xtatic Truth"

Crystal Fighters released the first single from the album, "Xtatic Truth", on 15 May 2009.

The single was relatively well received, coming to the attention of BBC Radio 1’s Nick Grimshaw, who named it "Single of the Week";^[17] NME, who listed it as number eight in their "10 Tracks You Have To Hear This Week";^[18] Mixmag, who named it their electro record of the month;^[19] and Q magazine, who listed it at number 14 in their "Q50", October 2010.^[20]

"I Love London"

The group’s second single, "I Love London", was released on Kitsuné on 1 December 2009; featuring Mimi Borelli on vocals. The single received mixed reviews.

"In The Summer"

The next single to be released from the album was "In The Summer"; released on 5 July 2010. "In The Summer" received wide radio coverage, being played by Rob da Bank and Zane Lowe;^[21][22] being featured as a record to "Go buy Monday" by Dermot O'Leary;^[23] and even featuring as one of Huw Stephens's "Hottest records in the world".^[24]

"Follow / Swallow"

The double A-side was released on 27 September 2010. The release received positive coverage in the media.^[25][26]

"At Home"

"At Home" was released on 14 March 2011. It was widely played as part of the BBC Radio 1 playlist and was Dev's "Record of the Week" for the 21st of February.^{[27][28][29][30]}

"Plage"

"Plage", the final single from the album, was released on 8 August 2011; coinciding with the release of the Deluxe Edition of the album.^[31] The single was released through PIAS to the continental European market earlier in the year to both positive reviews and chart success in Holland.^[32] The title refers to a bright region in the chromosphere of the Sun, named a plage.^[33]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Graham Dickson, Sebastian Pringle and Gilbert Vierich. 

Credits

^[34]

Note: Credits given are for the original release of the album; "all" refers only to this release.

Reception

Star of Love received widely varying reviews. AnyDecentMusic?, an album reviews aggregator, calculated an average score for the album of 6.1/10 from 11 independent reviewers.^[44] Caitlin Welsh of The Brag was particularly critical, stating:

[in]"I Love London", they ape M.I.A.'s Shoreditch patois over four-to-the-floor beats that are oppressive in their attempts to be visceral, and a robot-fart bass synth that sounds like your speakers aren't hooked up properly. There's no room in the mix, no space between noises to thrash and dance – it's going for catchy, edgy hard-dance, and it sounds like a Skitzmix.

—Caitlin Welsh ^[35]

Alex Hoban of NME was equally critical, saying that "With Delorean doing the same thing right now so much better, favouring Crystal Fighters would be like being handed an LCD Soundsystem record and chucking it to listen to Hadouken!."^[40]
Opposed to this, Josh Holliday of Virgin Media awarded the album a rare perfect score and effusively praised the bands first outing:

Symbiotic throughout, Star Of Love is an eclectic barrage of contrasting, and often cacophonously clashing genre combinations. Yet whilst perhaps their most triumphant moment, the naively wondrous "Plage" purveys a concrete sense of stylistic cohesion, it’s this constant flittering and fidgeting between reality and surrealism, fact and fiction, British and Basque that propels Crystal Fighters into mythical realms, as they bathe in ticker tape at the heart of a crystal maze only they can conquer.

—Josh Holliday ^[43]

Stephen Jones, of the Metro backs this up, saying that "On paper, Crystal Fighters' self-produced 'fast dance music', melding Basque folk instruments and thumping electro punk pop with lyrics from singer Laure's grandfather's addled writings, sounds like a disaster. In reality it works."^[38]

Acclaim

The album was awarded the title of "Album of the day" on 8 August 2011 by BBC 6 Music.^[45]

Deluxe edition

A "Deluxe Edition" of the album was released worldwide on 8 August 2011, featuring the additional acoustic tracks included in the Australian limited edition; as well as a cover of "Fiesta de los Maniquíes", a famous Spanish pop song by 1980's synthpop group Golpes Bajos.^[55]

The album was re-reviewed by Benjamin Hiorns, of online music magazine Subba-Cultcha, who awarded the Deluxe edition of the album a score of 7/10, one point higher than his previous review. He states that the 5 additional acoustic tracks:

Reveal a side the band could do with exploring more definitively on their second album. "Champion Sound" especially inherits a frantic carnival atmosphere which is insanely infectious. "Plage" also is even more charming in this new rendition and there's a real sense of intimacy which the albums "proper" version sacrificed for immediacy.

—Benjamin Hiorns, ^[52]

The free daily newspaper Metro gave the deluxe edition a rating of 4 out of 5, the same score as the original review, adding that "The five additional acoustic tracks emphasise their [the bands] Latin roots, and the dreamy sentiments within the shouty fun, particularly on Champion Sound".^[50]

Various other reviewers have, however, commented on the re-release in a somewhat more negative light. Glen Byford, of Glasswerk National, states that, of the 5 additional acoustic tracks: "sadly, these don't really stack up when compared to the original album as it was intended, the stripping away of drum machines and synths reveals the inner workings of each of the tracks, but perhaps would have fared better as a separate EP release for real fans, other than trying to expand on an already outstanding album".^[46] These sentiments were mirrored by both Jen Long of on-line music magazine The Line of Best Fit, who stated that re: the new acoustic tracks; "Well, as pretty as they are, it's just a bit pointless really. The original album is fine fun on its own";^[49] and also Freddy Palmer of on-line music review site The Music Fix, who rounds up his review with: "As is the case with many reissues, this should be one for completists only".^[51]

Charts

Remixes and Appearances

References

External links

• Official website
• Star of Love on Facebook
• Star of Love on Myspace
• Star of Love on Twitter
• John Stark Gallery