Where the Wild Things Grow

Some rock bands burst onto the scene and break up quickly, or simply fade into obscurity. Others, like Englands Starsailor, quietly forge ahead and get better with age. Such is the overwhelming feeling conjured by their sixth album, 2024s majestic and emotional Where the Wild Things Grow. Emerging to critical acclaim with 2001s Love Is Here, Starsailor rode in on the second wave of Brit-pop bands that also included Snow Patrol, Keane, and most famously, Coldplay. However, their sound was always more classicist in tone, a ringing, symphonic guitar rock style that fell somewhere between Teenage Fanclub and Oasis. Despite Top 20 U.K. hits like 2001s "Fever" and 2003s "Silence Is Easy," they never fully matched the wider mainstream success of their contemporaries. Working with Embrace guitarist and producer Richard McNamara, the bands unofficial fifth member since 2017s All This Life, Starsailor have crafted an album that further embraces that symphonic rock style. Once again at the center of the bands sound is lead singer/guitarist James Walsh, whose yearning croon has been infused with more texture and gravitas over the years. Cuts like the opening "Into the Wild" and "Dead on the Money" are sonically invigorating anthems that marry cutting, post-punk-esque guitars with Walshs deeply emotive lyrical punch. Yet, there are softer, more introspective moments here, as on the twangy, acoustic ballad "After the Rain," and the soulful, falsetto-tinged "Enough." Theres a sense on Where the Wild Things Grow that Walsh and Starsailor are grappling with getting older and coming to the realization that quiet contemplation is perhaps more fulfilling than the ego-driven bark of ones rock & roll youth. Its a Zen vibe they evoke on the atmospheric, piano-accented title track where Walsh sings, "The solace of sleep is coming on slow/Our silence creates a sweet afterglow." Its that warm afterglow that Starsailor conjures throughout Where the Wild Things Grow. ~ Matt Collar