Stars, Miracle Fortress

Montreal’s Stars operate with a sense of preciousness that rivals Belle & Sebastian and the Decemberists. Just look at the liner notes of Stars’ latest, a concept album titled In Our Bedroom After the War. Here, co-leader Torquil Campbell (also of Broken Social Scene and Memphis fame) is credited with contributing “vocals, synths, melodica, apple pipe, whining, ranting, weeping.” Ugh—I’d love to be able to hate this band. But I can’t, because unlike their contemporaries, Stars deliver on their grand conceit with mind-blowing consistency. Ranging stylistically from Morrissey to Morcheeba, In Our Bedroom satisfies at a level somewhere between Stars’ overrated (but still really good) Set Yourself on Fire, and the underrated (and even better) Heart. Simply put, they’re one of the few modern-day bands that gets high concept dead right. Miracle Fortress opens.
Fri., Nov. 16, 8 p.m., 2007