This album has been submitted by a user and is not included in any edition of the book.
Set Yourself on Fire is the third studio album by Canadian indie rock band Stars. It was released on September 14, 2004 on the Arts & Crafts International record label in Canada and the United Kingdom, and on March 8, 2005 in the United States. The album's most notable single was "Ageless Beauty", the band's breakthrough hit in Canada. "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead" has also garnered significant play in the United States. It was featured on the soundtrack of The O.C. On November 17, 2009, "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead" was featured on Fox network's So You Think You Can Dance, season 6. Former show contestant and current choreographer Travis Wall chose it as the track for his piece danced by Ellenore Scott and Ryan Di Lello. In 2005 Set Yourself on Fire was a Juno Award nominee for Alternative Album of the Year. It lost to the album Let It Die by Feist, who is an occasional bandmate of Stars' Amy Millan, Torquil Campbell, and Evan Cranley in the indie rock band Broken Social Scene. The novelist Ibi Kaslik is quoted on the jacket of the album. The album features string arrangements from Bulgarian composer Todor Kobakov.
Kinda fun indie Canadian record. Occasionally sounds a bit like Tegan and Sara. Sometimes sounds like Architecture in Helsinki. Often sounds entirely unique.
I liked this a lot. Musically and lyrically interesting and the play between the two vocalists really worked. The music went in some unusual directions in the back half, particularly the last few songs, which were great as individual pieces but I'm not sure quite gelled with the album as a whole.
Nice. A bit reminiscent of Death Cab for Cutie. 4 stars.
Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Ageless beauty, The big fight, What I’m trying to say, One more night
Pretty bland but One More Night is a beautiful song.
Enjoyable indie pop with guitars padded out with orchestral arrangements. 3.5
It seems I have a natural affinity with Canadian gentle indie with themes of death. I really liked most of this. Only criticism is that it doesn't really justify it's length. Cut out the weakest third and it would be great. Rating: 3.5 Playlist track: Your Ex-Lover Is Dead Date listened: 26/11/24
Okay, it starts disappointingly. I thought it was going to be one of those very dry "quiet, nice" albums from the early nights, to be filed with Turin Brakes, Starsailor and other such bland and forgettable pap. But as it goes on, it gradually gets more and more interesting, deep and experimental and becomes really quite brilliant!
Good
This was an interesting listen, if a bit of a stylistic hodgepodge. I am not a fan of the dual vocals, but I also think the vocals in general are the weakest part of the album. Fave Songs: Reunion, Your Ex-Lover Is Dead, Set Yourself on Fire, Ageless Beauty
Not bad. But nothing too special
Indie pop, chamber pop, electronic. Ni fu ni fa.
This LP stretches itself much too thin trying to figure out what it wants to be, jumping from one early-aughts genre to another with not much melodic or instrumental thread to connect one track to another. There seems to be a larger narrative element at play, but the the sudden, distracting tonal shifts (and accompanying instrumentation changes) meant that the lyrics often fell by the wayside of placing another disparate track in context of the others. The best albums are those where each track feels unique but contributes to the whole, and this LP is definitely lacking when you sum up its parts.
Very much an 00s album with the soft pop style that feels like it wavers between emo love songs and displaced youth confusion. It doesn’t shock me a song from this album was used on the OC. Fits the time perfectly. Unfortunately it seems like more and more music from the 00s is not standing the test of time and is a pretty lame era of music. This included. 4.4/10
No stomach for this sorry sort of folky shit today. 1/5.
I wasn't very happy with it, I played it and barely noticed it was there. I had a hard time understanding its approach as the whole album seems like one musical idea. Sorry, it wasn't for me.