The Five Ghosts, the new studio album from Canada’s beloved STARS is available in stores as of today, Monday June 21. It's available in all sorts of ways that you like your music, including deluxe packs available on their website.
The album is truly excellent. It sees the self-proclaimed melodramatic pop band mellowing down and integrating the rock elements of their earlier albums with the ambient, moody electronic elements of their most recent EP Sad Robots. The album is wholly strong, and discussions on Twitter have indicated that different listeners have different songs that they would deem as favourites on an album full of potential singles. "Dead Hearts" and "I Died So I Could Haunt You" were revealed to Vancouver audiences back in February during their set at the Olympics, both standout tracks. "Changes" sees Amy Millan stepping into the spotlight with her silky vocals in a tune that sounds eerily familiar, like someone whose name you can't place. And "Wasted Daylight," the current single, has been stuck in my head in the most pleasant way possible. An altogether gorgeous album and a definite contender for the next round of the Polaris Prize.
The Montreal pop band recently wrapped a North American pre-release tour where they played The Five Ghosts in its entirety from start to finish, coupled with an encore set of tracks selected each night, by their fans. They will play Osheaga and other Canadian festival dates in July, including the Ottawa Blues Fest, Calgary Folk Fest and Hillside in Guelph. Lollapalooza is confirmed for August.
Canadian tour dates are below. There are perks being offered for advance ticket purchases... fans will get exclusive pre-sale ticket and album packages for their upcoming tour. Digital downloads, souvenir tour merch and pre-show meet and greets are some of the offerings available with an advance ticket purchase.
These special pre-sale packages go on sale Tuesday June 22 via http://www.youarestars.com at 10 am EST.
Young Galaxy will open the October/November run of dates:
October 20 – Kingston, ON – Syndenham Church
October 22 – London, ON – Music Hall
October 23 – Toronto, ON – Massey Hall
October 29 – Winnipeg, MB – Burton Cummings
October 31 – Edmonton, AB – Winspear Centre
November 03 – Kelowna, BC – Community Theatre
November 04 –Vancouver, BC – The Vogue
Here's an oldie but a goodie - "The Night Starts Here"