Star Rover Star Rover

Back in September of last year I gave my opinion on the single Ghosts of New York State by Star Rover, who are two musicians, Will Graefe and Jeremy Gustin. I gave them a favourable rating for the single and was looking forward for the album’s release.

Somewhere in the wacky world of Norman, I missed the album release, and I am now making up for the lost time. And the lost moments of hearing this album, over and over again.

The album opens with a drone and a brush on a snare. Then the bass drum kicks in, followed by a gritty guitar and some keys. Pause, and restart. Find that sweet spot, the groove. Star Rover does. They settle into a comfortable groove. And then they bring it back to earth with those ever so deliciously distorted guitars. That is just Springs, is just the opener on this self-titled album from Star Rover.

The album is light on lyrical content, but that plays into the strength of their music. I won’t even attempt to put Star Rover in a genre box; they do their own thing. And they do that thing very well indeed.

I heard echoes of King Crimson, Jeff Beck and even something so diverse as Simon & Garfunkel. Mostly I heard Star Rover. I loved the garage band lo-fi power of songs such as Rag Doll. I would love to see them live, Star Rover is a band that I will follow on Facebook and Soundcloud, so I don’t miss anything from them again.

Through early sessions playing together at Gustin’s Bushwick loft in 2011, Gustin and Graefe bonded over their shared love of John Fahey, as well as the spiky post-rock of Deerhoof and Lightning Bolt. Later that year, they recorded Western Winds Bitter Christians’, a short lo-fi collection of grungy Fahey covers and distorted originals. Besides touring the USA, Europe and Japan, they are both in-demand session and touring artists, working with David Byrne, Kimbra, Bill Frissel, Okkervil River, Sam Amidon, Marc Ribot, Delicate Steve and Nels Cline, among others.

Star Rover’s writing developed towards futuristic post-rock between touring and other recording work. They found themselves connected to the directness of folk melodies, leading to their 2018 album ‘I May Be Lost But I’m Laughing.’ That became a more polished and produced effort featuring Sam Evian, Shahzad Ismailly, Rob Moose (yMusic), Daniel Rossen (Grizzly Bear) and Sarah K Pedinotti.

The following year, Star Rover collaborated with Brazilian musician (and frequent Caetano Veloso collaborator) Ricardo Dias Gomes. They wrote and recorded ‘This Whole Emptiness’ album in Lisbon at the studio of Marcelo Camelo.

The ‘Star Rover‘ album is now available across digital platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music or at https://ffm.to/starroveralbum or via Bandcamp.

Pre-order the ‘Star Rover’ LP https://ffm.to/starroveralbum

Bandcamp https://starroverband.bandcamp.com/album/star-rover-2

‘The Springs’ https://youtu.be/BfzQXkmel5A

Single order https://ffm.to/thesprings

‘Ghosts of New York State’ https://youtu.be/on1lHy80IcM

Single order https://ffm.to/ghostssingle