Bar None Records
2005
Clouded Staircase
About This Album
The LP-format track listing and Kodachrome photos certainly set up the retro vibe on Starling Electric's Bar None debut, Clouded Staircase (not to mention the Blossom Toes font on the cover). If you happen to know what a "Blossom Toes font" is, and you are still reading this, don't stop now, because this record is probably your cup of tea. The CD's look certainly befits the content, with its heady vibe of Zombies-inspired vocal acrobatics, Brian Wilson arrangement know-how, and patchwork bell bottom-pantedness. Clouded Staircase is most decidedly retro all around, but pulling from so many different period sources that the music can be described more precisely as retro-informed, rather than retro for retro's sake. These gentlemen have record collections -- big, sprawling, eclectic ones. The kind that any serious '60s-'70s pop aficionado would have accumulated over the course of a lifetime (Brian Wilson, Left Banke, ELO, the Beatles, Love, Gilbert O'Sullivan, solo McCartney, pre-disco Bee Gees) with the added spice of some kitsch favorites, as well as the work of more modern pop purveyors (Jason Falkner, Eggstone, Matthew Sweet, the Posies). A pretty standard lineup for fans of this stuff, though you might also notice that there's a huge stack of Guided by Voices 7"s next to the turntable.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 and 13)

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