After recently discovering Been Stellar on a flight back from LAX to the UK, I was nervous the band wouldn’t be able to follow up an already great catalogue of singles with their first full length: Scream From New York, NY. After signing to Dirty Hit and touring with The 1975, I was worried the New York natives may lose their edge. Instead, they’ve amplified it.
Opener Start Again is a brooding and fierce introduction reminiscent of The Murder Capital’s “For Everything”. Bass and Drums drive the song with rhythms of urgency that almost make you wonder why this isn’t the other bookend of the album. This feels more a prologue than an opening track.
We’re then transported to Passing Judgement, the first single from the album opens with ripping chords akin to The Strokes and even Carl Barat’s Dirty Pretty Things. Suddenly, we land into calm and dreamy verses which only further my belief of Been Stellar as New York City’s answer to their Irish neighbours Fontaines D.C. The drawn out “You measure it out” climax reminds me of first hearing Grian Chatten scream “Is it too real for ya?” Back in 2019. It is no wonder that the two bands are touring the United States together this October and I am very pleased to have my ticket.
Pumpkin opens with dreamy rythym guitars and tight drums, similar to fellow Dubliners, Inhaler. More melodic than the previous tracks and more singing than shouting, this track is a great reminder of Been Stellar’s vulnerable sound on early tracks Ohm and Kids 1995.
The title track very suitably seems to take inspiration from Interpol’s 2002 masterpiece, ‘Turn on the Bright Lights’ with sounds built from almost shoegazing guitars and soft, lingering vocals. The meloncholy now departs from the subway carriage as Sweet and Can’t Look Away throw the album back into overdrive with breakbeat drums and noisy guitars.
Shimmer doubles down on the Interpol guitar playing. It’s clear Been Stellar have studied their local protégés and the revision is paying off. The interplay of bass and electric guitar on this track only further display’s the genius of British producer, Dan Carey who seems to do just as good a job when working with acts from across the pond.
The album nears it’s end with the three longest cuts. Takedown sounds more like a cut from Turnover’s ‘Peripheral Vision’ than The Strokes’ ‘Is This It?’. The intimacy and volatility in the vocals were what originally drew me in to the band, early singles from this album worried me that this side may be gone and I am very relieved that it hasn’t. Album closer I Have The Answer opens with a Sonic Youth wall of sound put together with the intensity of The Cribs’ ‘Be Safe’. At the forefront of the track is a message of hope amongst chos with the fantastic lyric, “I have the answer, just for a little while”.
Though far from linear and slightly mismatched, Been Stellar have come through with a thoroughly enjoyable debut album that displays vulnerability, the angst of the young and above all, the romance they hold with the Lower East Side of the city that never sleeps. Dirty Hit is a surprising label for this release but a band this good so early in their career deserve to be heard. We are the lucky ones that they’re bringing us the great sound of the Manhattan Youth and long may it continue.