It would be easy to pigeon-hole Stellastarr, as another New York hipster outfit hell-bent on exhuming any number of post-punk bands you might name, and It is fair to compare them to Interpol although this is supposed to make both bands boiling mad. But before passing judgment upon this band, it's only fair that you realize that these guys do the Stellastarr thing purely on a moonlighting basis (everyone in the band have regular high-paying day jobs). Which makes it so any resemblance that they might bear to say The Cure here, or U2 there, or even new wave bands such as Modern English or Flock of Seagulls - can simply be waved away by the band with a we're just a cover band anyway. These guys have got there asses covered, and they've also got a big hit in the making with "My Coco."

The reason this band so easily morphs from one sound to the next is largely due to their lead singer/chameleon who goes by the handle of Shawn Christenson. He can go from an Ian McCulloch croon, to a David Byrne talkish rant in a heartbeat - and you can't tell if he's being sincere or cheeky or both. If these guys would quit there day jobs and focus on their music full time, there's no limit to what they could accomplish because their frontman is a genius. He could sing ten songs in a row and sound completely different on each one. He tends to favor that poutish Robert Smith approach much of the time.

The band's weakness at the moment is their songwriting, but this is still a pretty impressive debut even so. Alot of their song structure owe a lot to the Cars and you'll hear a good bit of Ric Ocasek nods along with the Robert Smiths. Bassist Vocalist Amanda Tannen adds some nice textures with her clear thin vocals and the rest of the band is musically solid. With the limitless potential that this band has at it's hands and two nice showcases at Coachella and SBSW, it's unfathomable that the one of the big labels hasn't snatched these guys up and started grooming them for the great Battle of New York.