MAJOR STARS - More Colors Of Sound

Out of the roiling miasma of timeless time
comes a long-promised delivery from
one of the constants of our era: Major
Stars, and their new LP, More Colors of
Sound. Fueled by overdriven guitars and
gut-punching rhythm, these veteran rockers are stalwart in their delivery of trippy,
psyched-out extremes. Over the 27 years
since The Rock Revival (their Twisted Village debut), they can be counted on to
come back around every three or four
years or so, with something heavy picked
up on their journey. This time, it's been
since 2019's Roots of Confusion Seeds of
Joy-but what's a few years in the larger
scheme of things? Because 'larger' IS the
Major Stars scheme of things, one that's
always cut deeply into the grooves.
YES. It's been since the late 90s that
Major Stars have been transmitting their
signal. But even eternity wasn't built in
such an arc of time: Wayne Rogers and
Kate Biggar have been crossing necks
dating back to the 80s, with Crystallized Movements' screaming psychpunk hybrids. Tom Leonard, Major Stars' current third axeman, has been in
the mix almost as long: Luxurious Bags' amorphous low-fi (that's him!) was
released on Twisted Village too, and Kate and Wayne and him all played
together in Vermonster. After the demise of Magic Hour-Wayne and Kate's
proto-freak-folk outfit with Damon & Naomi-the three of them formed
Major Stars, with Wayne singing and Dave Lynch on drums. Which brings
us. not quite to today, but, the More Colors of Sound lineup is as-was for
Roots of Confusion Seeds of Joy: Kate, Tom, Wayne, Dave Dougan on
bass, Casey Keenan on drums and Noell Dorsey singing lead.
More Colors of Sound had been earmarked as a title for nearly twenty years
when they started work on the album that would finally bear its name. For
the first ten Major Stars releases, Wayne wrote everything, but due to the
way things were in 2020 and 2021, Tom and Noell wrote a bunch of things
together, along with Wayne's stuff. By the time they got to Gloucester's
Bang-A Song Studios, there was enough music for a double LP! A double's
a once-in-a-lifetime dream scenario, but once they'd done the overdubs,
they skinnied it down to the 44 minutes here? -22 minutes of each songwriting team. Ultimately democratic, not too long. you don't see that much
nowadays!
As ever (and ever), the crush of the three guitars as they riff with the rhythm
defines Major Stars' sound. The work of two writing camps has produced a
song-centric focus on More Colors of Sound-one, of course, shot through
with distorted tones, fevered neck-wringing solos and several extended jammers-but the production overall has a cleaner sound than its predecessor.
That, plus the increased number of writers on deck gives the title a kind of
kismet to go along with its historical weight, and that's alright!
On More Colors of Sound, Major Stars find new hues inside the incendiary
approach that's launched them so ecstatically since early times; another jar
of infinity captured with a quality all its own-and it's all in the grooves!

Vinyl release of Major Stars - More Colors Of Sound. Released through DRAG CITY and available on LP.