Stars – Set Yourself on Fire

I actually can’t believe this one is 20 years old today. I probably came to it the next year, but this album is one that completely took over my life and shaped a lot of what I’d love. Almost top to bottom this album is gorgeous songs about love at some sort of remove – a meeting with an ex from a different lifetime; living in a moment of happiness you know will end soon; remembering the very beginning of a relationship (that of course has already ended by time the song begins); swimming in an eternal feeling pause of hesitating to say you love someone… this album is beautifully nostalgic and energetic and lively all at once. While the songs are often at a remove and can on their surface feel a little cold, they rarely actually are because just how bright the feelings and memories can still burn.

I don’t think Stars have ever come close to recapturing what makes this album sound so perfect. They’ve made good later albums, like their dancier album ten years on from this No One Is Lost, but the specific combination (and balance) of theatricality and earnestness they’ve never quite nailed again after this.