Star Rover Proves That Not All Who Wander Are Lost Via Debut, ‘I May Be Lost But I’m Laughing’ (album stream)

Star Rover, featuring Will Graefe (Okkervil River, Landlady) and Jeremy Gustin (Rubblebucket, Albert Hammond Jr.) releases its debut album, I May Be Lost But I’m Laughing 26 October via 11A Records. The duo is a culmination of “rhythmically aggressive and near telepathic rapport” between its members as central to its sound. Drawing upon influences such as Brian Wilson and Lightning Bolt, Star Rover lives up to its name with vast expanses of polyrhythms and waves of sound that engulf the listener in a blazing covenant of inescapable tunefulness that crumbles sonic boundaries.

“Peppermint Olive” is as much a dream pop song as it is a new chapter in some still-emerging genre that haunts the listener, gently gnawing its way into your psyche. Featuring a guest turn from Mikey Freedom Hart (Ex Reyes, Blood Orange) on keys and Sarah K. Pedinotti (of Lip Talk) on background vocals, the song almost singlehandedly makes the case for Star Rover being a band to watch.

That case thickens, though with the deep shoegaze roots of “Snow Moving”, which suggests an intersection between My Bloody Valentine and Mogwai updating the deep, luxurious grooves of the Cure bathed in light. Elsewhere, doses of earliest Pink Floyd Canterbury prog reveal themselves in the subtlest ways, asking the listener to return for repeated spins to fully probe the depths of Star Rover’s musical mastery.

Elsewhere, the band collaborates with vocalist Dr. Stuff on “And Then I Remembered”, a guest the pair discovered via Instagram in 2016 that culminated not only in that tune but in a video directed by Julia Barrett-Mitchell, who called it, “A story about partnership, about loss, about healing.”

Somewhat surprisingly (or not), one can also hear a cover of iconic free jazz man Sonny Sharrock’s “Blind Willie”. “We decided to record it as a tribute to him, but it’s also representative of what we do live. His original music is a masterpiece of American music and has a spirit we’d like to communicate in our music.”

Star Rover will celebrate the release of I May Be Lost But I’m Laughing October 23 at Union Pool in Brooklyn with guest spots from Tigue, Anna Robert-Gevalt (Anna & Elizabeth) and Henry Jamison.

TOUR DATES

10/23 | Brooklyn, NY at Union Pool (Album Release Show)
10/25 | Fairfield, CT at Warehouse *
10/26 | Philadelphia, PA at Union Transfer *
10/27 | Washington, DC at U Street Music Hall *
10/29 | Asheville, NC at Grey Eagle *
10/30 | Nashville, TN at Mercy Lounge *
10/31 | Atlanta, GA at Terminal West *
* with Rubblebucket