The Montreal pop band Stars wears many faces, literally and figuratively: Singers Amy Millan and Torquil Campbell swap lead vocals in songs that range from effervescent pop-rock to grandiose dance music to melancholy, string-enhanced dirges. With so much to choose from in the group's toolbox, a few gems are bound to get left off its records — a wrong Stars will help right with a new single next month.
Two charming songs, each an outtake from last year's The North, will come out both digitally and as a limited-edition 7" single on Sept. 10. The fizzily concise A side, "Wishful," provides a particularly strong showcase for Millan, in the spirit of the recent "Backlines" or the less recent "Ageless Beauty." The new track finds ample room for sweeping synths and booming guitars, but Millan is its lead instrument for sure, as she feeds "Wishful" her signature cocktail of vulnerability and wry grace.
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