This is the most exquisite album yet from Raf and O, who I believe belong to that select group of artists who create not only great music, but also a universe in which that music can live and breathe. Open and upfront about their key influences - chiefly David Bowie and Kate Bush, more of whom later - the duo nonetheless make a sound that couldn't possibly be anyone else; as distinct and unique as a perfectly formed, musical fingerprint.
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Raf Mantelli and O Richard Smith have been taking listeners captive with their otherworldly records for over a decade now. It's hard to think of a band whose album titles provide more apt descriptions for their music: earlier gems include 'Time Machine', 'Portal' and 'The Space Between Nothing and Desire'. This is questing, exploratory stuff - songs that reach for uncharted territory and usually get there.
For me, this has always been most apparent in their ability to fuse past, present and future in the atmosphere of their records. At face value, this would seem to come from their use of both 'trad' instruments - guitar, keyboards, and O's acoustic double-bass in particular adding a kind of nimble heft - and electronic rhythms and effects: analogue warmth meets digital ice. But they wouldn't be the only band to combine some or all of these elements. In fact, it's like having the ingredients to a recipe, but not the method. What sets Raf and O apart is the alchemy - that mysterious element of 'feel' that suggests you're hearing music suspended between then and now, something that's always existed but that no-one's heard before.
The album is beautifully recorded and produced, each listen revealing more intricate touches. This attention to detail extends to the sequencing - and with a good pair of headphones, you can definitely expect 'We are Stars' to take you on a journey through time and space.
For me, the trip is in three phases. The first four tracks form a sequence that really pulls into focus the nostalgic/futuristic tension Raf and O are so good at generating. Each song has one or two familiar styles underpinning the melodies (some of the catchiest and most engaging tunes of the pair's career) - from the soulful glam-swagger of 'Still Sitting in our Time Machines', through the indie-folk vocal acrobatics of 'Andy under Stars' and torch-song delicacy of the title track, to the frenetic 80s synth onslaught of 'Every Time It's Bleak, We Dance'. But in a genius touch, throughout all of these, the processed drums and percussion are both hyperactive and also surprisingly tentative, quiet, a techno-rave somewhere in the distance, increasing in intensity as if the future is on the doorstep, about to disrupt and supersede the old-school elements on display. The lyrics seem to revolve around escape and release, a kind of science-fiction poetry.
The next four tracks bring the guitar more to the fore, a more organic, human stand against the techno-takeover. 'There's Nothing that I Want More' surrounds Raf's yearning vocal with near-metal soloing, while 'Eyeliner' introduces slinky, slow-motion funk, as if Chic were trying on shoegaze. One of the album's key tracks, 'Tommy Newton' follows. You may remember this name as David Bowie's character in the SF masterpiece 'The Man Who Fell to Earth - in the song Raf gives the perspective of Newton's lover Mary-Lou. As the song closes, she describes Newton as "an alien / lost into our world", tapping into not only the film character but evoking Bowie himself, her voice drifting over an aptly-chosen cyclic guitar motif. 'Tear the Page' is a sonic marvel, juxtaposing processed electronic distortion and drum-and-bass percussion with clean, chiming guitar chords and a gentle vocal line - in terms of ambition, it's as if Radiohead tried to combine almost every style they've tackled across their career into one song. But as ever, the track doesn't resemble that band or any other: the inimitable way it shuffles through various arrangements beneath Raf's voice gives it the duo's signature tension, as if several groups are playing behind Raf, and O is continually switching the dial between them. We hear occasional resolution through one of the best and most sensual "A-ha!"s in recent memory.
As the record reaches its final third, the disparate elements find greater equilibrium. The lyrics feel more intimate, turning inward, almost like a small batch of love poems. The arrangement for 'Cheap Champagne' is thrilling: as befits its mood, the instruments are more organic, human, O's bass jittery at moments of excitement - then at the mention of 'stars', more electronic effects emerge to fill out the sound, almost as a call-back to the earlier parts of the album. 'Altered Reality' is a warm bath of a song, tapping into that future-nostalgia with pulse that almost calls to mind a Jean Michel Jarre-style theme, the opening guitar chords ultimately superseded by evolving synths, the environment around Raf's vocal constantly shifting, bringing the track's title to life. 'The Guardian of Your Mind' is one of the most ingenious songs on the record, taken solo (I think) by Raf on voice and guitar, but recorded live so the room becomes an instrument, adding a more natural, ethereal echo to counterbalance the sonic effects elsewhere. The gorgeous closer, 'Waterloo' has the stately progression of a rock 'n' roll era ballad, bowed double-bass and treated, wordless backing vocals cradling a hopeful conclusion, as if the past-honouring and future-seeking characteristics of the duo's music have come to an understanding.
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'We are Stars' is a child of the pandemic, nursed to completion during lockdown. When venues fell silent, Raf and O ran a series of online concerts where fans could watch and listen to the new songs develop and come to life. It's no wonder, then, that it's an album of escape; that, as a coherent group, the tracks embody a straining against the leash, a desire to progress, to form something new.
It also feels right that the record reflects Raf and O's twin inspirations - Bowie and Bush - in surprising and creative ways. It so happens that the duo also perform as 'The Kick Inside', a covers band with a difference, in which Raf embodies an alternative Kate Bush who still wrote all those amazing songs, but carried on singing at the piano, live on the circuit (as opposed to the 'real world' Kate of early Fairlight adoption, 'world-music' instrumentation and audio-visual experiments). And 'Tommy Newton' is only the latest facet of their Bowie appreciation, with a selection of covers and related festival appearances already under their belts.
I use the word 'inspiration' deliberately - rather than 'influence', say - because it's not as if Raf and O simply sound like either Bowie or Bush. As I said, they've long sounded like no-one but themselves. It's what they take from them in attitude, fearlessness: the way Raf's voice swoops and soars without apparent boundaries, or their wilful - and successful - clashing of musical styles and techniques without respect for genre conventions. While their journey results in albums like this, let's hope their destination always remains where their music takes us: just over the horizon.
AA
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