Staff Reviews

Starfucker - Reptilians

Review by Krystina Nellis

The album doesn’t have that ‘grab-hold-and-don’t-let-go’ emotional pull that would elevate it beyond sounding nice into something to treasure.»

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'reptilians' is starfucker's second full-length and first with polyvinyl. lyrically, the album focuses primarily on death and the end of the world, two intertwined subjects at the forefront of songwriter josh hodges' mind following the passing of his grandmother. yet, amazingly, the record manages to be not the slightest bit depressing. in reality, it's quite the opposite - a trait likely attributed to the fact that the band, like british philosopher alan watts (whose lectures are excerpted at various intervals), believes death is responsible for giving meaning to life. for starfucker, this comforting notion is expressed musically via vibrant crescendos, explosive drum beats, and layered synth melodies that drive a theatrical live show where dance party meets roxy music. as such, 'reptilians' marches effortlessly from the stripped-bare psychedelia of 'born', which conjures david byrne's ghost, to the funeral parade of 'bury us alive' (a track that greets death with open arms in a moment of animated celebration), to 'death as a fetish,' where the title becomes a liberating mantra sung over an immediately hummable keyboard-driven loop. just as with the band's previous two releases, 'reptilians' was written almost entirely by principal songwriter and multi-instrumentalist joshua hodges. this time around, however, the group's sound is bolstered by the addition of keil corcoran (whom hodges describes as a 'human drum machine') and producer jacob portrait (the dandy warhols, mint chicks). the result is starfucker's most well-rounded and full-sounding album to date - a blissfully buoyant affair that will have you dancing to songs about death while having the time of your life.
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