++ stars of aviation record reviews ++


STARS OF AVIATION REVIEWS Marie et l'Accordeon April 2006 Contents Tasty Fanzine, September 2006 Drowned in Sound, August 2006 Music OMH, August 2006 Sessions of Breakfast, May 2006 Tangents, April 2006 Reviews Tasty Fanzine, September 2006 Beautiful Francophile lounge pop from Stars of Aviation. Currently creating something of a stir on the London pop scene, this band sometimes come across as trying to force the lounge pop stuff, but second track here, ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ , is a wonderfully frail little folk pop tune which brings to mind The Pines at their spine-chilling best. More of this sort of stuff, please. Drowned in Sound, August 2006 It’s something from one of those repeat-after-me educational videos Mrs LivedInFranceForAYear made you watch in school when you were fourteen, showered in sparkling hundreds and thousands and set to a twinkling backbeat that’s so lounge it probably wears snug slippers and smokes a pipe as soon as its presence is no longer necessary. It’s everything that’s stereotypically sweetly romantic about those over-the-channel sorts delivered in just less than four minutes. But by a bunch of Brits. Ace. No, we’ve little idea as to what’s being said, save for “Je n'aime pas” - that, we understand. And they keep saying something about “le soleil”, which is the sun, yeah? Yeah. But who, really, cares what the words mean when they’re softly sung with such intoxicating delicacy over a slightly bossa nova backdrop? And an accordion, obviously. You could listen to this over and over, learning nothing but feeling fantastic. We know, ‘cause we did just that, just now. And now we feel ace. B-side ‘All Quiet On The Western Front’ is a sparse but emotive song about a war-torn romance, but it’s the a-side where the super-twee but brilliantly-realised good stuff’s at. Stars Of Aviation aren’t reinventing any wheels with 'Marie et l’accordéon', but their offer of a ride’s one that everyone should consider accepting. It's one of so-sweet song and hushed sentiments, half-realised affections and tugged-at heartstrings. In case you missed it twice: ace. Music OMH, August 2006 As I heard someone say a while back, French is such a great language for pop. The genre's history is illumined by idiosyncratic gems from the records of Serge Gainsbourg to stunning cinematic novelties like the cluster of Ana Karina songs, overseen by Jean-Luc Godard, in his Masculin Feminin masterpiece, or Jeanne Moreau's unforgettable Le Tourbillon in Trauffout's Jules et Jim. Evoking days cycling through smiling Parisian countryside swerving rainbows and horse manure, Stars of Aviation create just such a magical fascination with their track Marie et l'accordeon. Luxuriant with Jonny Anstead and wife Louise's boy/girl vocals, the song breezes with a light poetry that speaks in the profound language of pop purity of summer days, unknowing, innocent, and absolutely in love. Filled out effortlessly with elegant accordion flourishes and sparkling percussion, the Stars distil perfectly that laid back air to lull you into their picturesque world, and as our summer slowly subsides, where else could you want to be? A slice of escapist wonder to add to any connoisseur's Gallic treasure chest, Marie et l'accordeon stalks the territory where dreams are made. Sessions of Breakfast, May 2006 I was listening to the Radio 1 unsigned podcast yesterday when this band came up they are called Stars Of Aviation and they describe themselves as a 7 piece chamber pop group who are influenced by English and French Folk music, the song that was played was 'Marie et l'accordeon' (sung in french) which you can hear on their MySpace site. I would say that they produce some perfect breezy folk-pop (not always in french) which sounds a bit like Arcade Fire heavily sedated on morphine, just right for the on coming summer. Tangents, April 2006 I’d suggest you pick up a copy of the Stars Of Aviation EP as well, but as it’s not available at the moment in any form other than some streaming tracks via their MySpace page, that might prove a mite difficult. But please do go and check them out on the Interweb, because they are fine pieces of suburban softpop that show how the band have developed their Clientele meets Galaxie 500 aesthetic into new, verdant ground populated by light bossa grooves and dreams of ambulations down dreamy French boulevards in the fading evening light, accordions echoing off the cobbles. Other reviews