Starcrawler - Devour You

2019
4 keepers
keeper avg .308

Think I'm safe starting with the second album as I see no evidence that their 2018 debut (can't call them lazy) is very different. Judging from the high-energy delivery they're undoubtedly a great band to see live. Starcrawler is obviously heavily influenced by girl-power pop rock and punk of the 70's, from The Runaways to Pat Benatar, on tracks including "Lizzy", "Toy Teenager", "Tank Top", and "Home Alone." The album's middle tracks, "She Gets Around", "I Don't Need You", "Rich Taste", all coming right in a row, form a very similar-sounding rock-block, exhuming the heyday of 90's grunge-rock.

But a few listens reveal that Starcrawler is more than just dumb fun. "Bet My Brains"**** has an infectious hopping riff, and drum pattern to match, that's more Brit-pop than punk; the arresting electronic stuttering on Arrow de Wilde's verse-ending scream (probably an extreme tremolo) is also a nice touch, whoever's idea it was. The relatively laid-back "No More Pennies"**** is surprisingly bluesy, full of cool licks somewhere between Guns N Roses and Stones (so Izzy Stradlin I guess). "Hollywood Ending"**** sounds so much like Courtney Love it's uncanny; fortunately, with tight harmonies and chiming guitars, it's as smooth and meticulously crafted as anything Love and all her dudes managed. "Born Asleep" has a dreamy 60's California rock vibe while "You Dig Yours" gets all dance-y. The album concludes with "Call Me A Baby"****, which starts tentatively but ends with the album's "Hey Jude" moment, a tongue-in-cheek coda based on the Cry Baby Cry nursery rhyme. Good luck not walking around singing "cry, baby, cry, put a finger in your eye, If your mother isn't home, you won't have to tell a lie" to yourself for the next few days. So there is definitely some dumb fun.