James Hagan
Published: February 4 2004
Attempting to follow-up a popular, critically acclaimed album is oftentimes too difficult a proposition for many bands. If said album was the band’s debut, then the task becomes almost impossible. Luckily for music fans, Starsailor has avoided the sophomore jinx with “Silence Is Easy.”
Coming off their debut album, the platinum selling “Love Is Here,” released in 2001 (and reviewed in the Feb. 14 issue of The Corsair), the U.K. exports don’t stray terribly far from the formula that made the first album such a joy.
The lyrics are still introspective and the arrangements and elegiac sound incline one mostly to gaze longingly at their shoes rather than dancing.
The big difference from their first album is that now the band’s songs are a bit happier. The lyrics are more upbeat. The first album featured tales of alcoholic fathers, suicide and unrequited love. “Silence Is Easy” delivers a positive message and serves as the silver lining to the band’s dark clouds of a first album.
The album unexpectedly starts off with a thumping beat that, shockingly, does get one to dancing. In stark contrast to the morose sound of their first album, the first song, “Music Was Saved” sounds like something you would hear in the pub on a cold Friday night to get people moving.
“Oh my friends/ we landed in December/ creating something for you to remember/ the rushes were made and the music was saved,” sings 23-year old lead singer and songwriter James Walsh.
On the band’s website (www.starsailor.com), Walsh proclaimed the song as a love letter to the music business, a thank-you note to the fact that he and his band mates have achieved success.
After that song, the band settles into their usual sound. Starsailor’s songs will never be called epic or complex. Over simple, repeating rhythms, Walsh sings in a monotone.
While he lacks the vocal range of a classically good lead singer, his wispy voice fits perfectly with his band mates, bassist James Stelfox, drummer Ben Byrne and keyboardist Barry Westhead. Thus, many of the songs have a spooky, ethereal quality, almost like Walsh is singing through the thick haze of a smoky bar.
The choruses are slowly drilled into your head until you almost can’t help but sing along.
One such song is “Some Of Us,” where Walsh comes to accept the unfairness of the world; the same unfairness that permeated so much of the first album.
“Some of us laugh/some of us cry/some of us smoke/some of us lie/but it’s all just the way we cope with our lives,” he sings.
Perhaps a reason for the more mature message is that after the release of “Love Is Here,” Walsh’s wife gave birth to a baby girl, Niamh. It’s easy to tell that many of the songs deal with the love Walsh has for his family.
“I was sure you’d be my girl/ we’d rent a little world/ have a little girl,” he sings in “Four to the Floor,” the catchiest song on the album.
This is music for sitting at home alone on a Saturday while you long for the girl you love, hoping against hope that one day she’ll love you too.
That idea may be best exemplified in “Bring My Love” where Walsh sees an end to his days of sadness tell us to, “turn your head to face the sun/ and love will keep you safe.”