Stars on the Wall
Label: Morr Music
Length: LP
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: Stars on the Wall
On his debut as the Go Find three years ago, Belgian songwriter Dieter Sermeus looked to Morr Music amigo Styrofoam when he needed help producing a collection of driving, lo-fi electropop called Miami. Sermeus’ arrangements have changed quite a bit since 2004, and the Go Find’s Stars on the Wall pushes an older synth here and there, but is entirely without the chirping laptop quirkiness of its predecessor, and sadly void of stop/start fuzzed keyboard riffs like those in Miami‘s dancey ‘Modern Times.â?� Instead, Sermeus and a live band occasionally play mild all-acoustic folk ballads on Stars, wrought with multitracked guitar leads (‘Monday Morningâ?�) or stirring pop with ambient, chiming instrumentation (‘Kid OK,â?� ‘Ice Cold Iceâ?�). Even after having moved from the bedroom, the recordings on the compact album sound somewhat petite, with Sermeus nearing grim monotony in minor-key melodies and similar tempos, but battling it with lovely harmonies and sharply edited songs.
This article appears in May 2-8, 2007.