Gringo Star - Count Yer Lucky Stars (Album Review)
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
Written by Steven James
Gringo Star emerged from Atlanta's independent music scene in 2008 with critically acclaimed debut 'All Y'all' in 2008. The band are now back with 'Count Yer Lucky Stars', which is every bit the same catchy garage rock and is released on the 30th of April.
Since their self-released debut Gringo Star have been signed by Brooklyn-based label Gigantic Music and now they've teamed up with producer Ben Allen, who has worked famously with Gnarls Barkley and Animal Collective, to put together this album. So they’re certainly going up in the world.
The band have added to their sound considerably since the last album, as every member seems to now be an multi-instrumentalist, adding various extra keys and percussion to songs. These extra layers not only make the album seem more polished, but also give the songs a really retro sound with a modern buzz to them. This combination of 60s-style songwriting and excellent instrumentation does make for some very catchy pop songs, and just like their namesake, makes for a nice tribute to the British music of that decade.
The first single from the album will be opening track 'Shadow', which will be released on the 23rd of April. 'Shadow' is a good starting point for the album, with jangly guitars and sing-along-vocals and is a good choice for a lead single. However, after saying that, Gringo Star are running the risk of becoming too formulaic. All the tracks on this album, although they are all good, are all fairly similar. There are the slower tracks, such as 'Esmerelda', however, it still has essentially the same feel as the rest of the abum.
The album as a whole works. It's relatively short and punchy but if it were any longer then things could get stale pretty quickly. Perhaps a little variety required on the next album to stop things falling short of the mark.
'Count Yer Lucky Stars' isn't a fresh sounding record and the whole retro-garage rock thing has been done before, however, it's still really good and definitely worth a listen.
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Since their self-released debut Gringo Star have been signed by Brooklyn-based label Gigantic Music and now they've teamed up with producer Ben Allen, who has worked famously with Gnarls Barkley and Animal Collective, to put together this album. So they’re certainly going up in the world.
