Sometimes, a band you have never heard of before will emerge seemingly out of nowhere with a killer song and quickly establish themselves as a new and important part of your record collection. In 2020, Starbenders was that band, and Bitches Be Witches was that song. But, let us start with the basics.
Starbenders are an American rock band from the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. Their debut album Heavy Petting was released in 2016. Although two EPs were released in the interim, it would take four years for their second full-length release Love Potions to be released on 14 February 2020. It took the band thirteen months to record the album, on which vocalist, guitarist, and brilliantly named frontwoman Kimi Shelter commented to Classic Rock Magazine, “We really just put our all into it. We wanted to come in old-school with it, and make sure that we were really honouring the ghosts of rock’n’roll past. It was frustrating, but the process really made us. It was both parts: beauty and pain.”
Love Potions quickly establish itself as an album with a unique sound. The production is distinctly vintage, the band’s music often touching on elements of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s as needed. They do mix up everything into a big ball of goodness that makes it sound uniquely like themselves.
As you will see in their videos, the band looks the part. They have an aura, a look of mystique, and a special X-factor about them that leaves no doubt that they are a band. They have it. Remember back in the day when you saw someone and immediately knew they played in a band without knowing who they were?
With Starbenders drawing on a wide spectrum of influences, their albums are multi-faceted. Personally I find them most fascinating when they create witchy, spellbinding moods. One example of that is the aforementioned Bitches Be Witches, containing slices of gothic glam set against the ever-present bedding of organic and atmospheric rock’n’roll. This song slithers its way into your brain and might stay there for a while after it’s over.
Early in the morning I could feel you in my presence
Wanna devour your innocence
Taste you in my essence, so come close baby
Bottle your inhibitions
Just a lock of hair and some devil’s snare
Please don’t hate me baby
That’s just how the devil made me
Even more enchanting is the incredible London. A true night song, atmospheric and dark, the verses are filled with brooding angst and eerie moods. The choruses, however, change character to that of an epic plea with the full band coming in, sounding very much inspired by a 1990s rock ballad chorus with a stronger melody, more insistent vocals, and a driving rhythm. Then it all sinks back into the darkness of the verses again. It is an unusual combination, but it works wonderfully here. The turmoil of emotion that the song represents should embrace both the highest highs and lowest lows.
The video is almost equally fascinating and an adventure in itself. The intricate plot looks like it could have come out of the Stranger Things TV show, with Kimi Shelter giving a striking performance on camera as usual.
Things will never be the same
My heart has poisoned my brain
Don’t nobody look like you
The way you do what you do
Can you meet me at midnight
I’m going insane
The darkness, it suits you
By the light of the moon
Far from everything that the band does is brooding and, well, witchy. Their song crafting is consistently solid, with the songs containing choruses that are so catchy that you will remember them well after the song is over.
Sometimes, Starbenders are happy to be a straightforward rock band and just play catchy tunes. Examples of that are found in album opener Hangin’ On Tonight and the bouncy Can’t Cheat Time, the latter sounding like a mix of ELO and Blondie.
Love Potions is an eclectic album, showing many different sides of the band while staying within the common thread of Starbenders’ energy and vision. The album is hauntingly unpredictable, but the songs on Love Potions makes total sense when you look at the album as a whole.
“In books and fables, love potions usually come with warnings attached to them,” Kimi Shelter said to the Music Existence website. “People are always cautioned that these magical tonics are unpredictable and usually lead to unintended outcomes. Our record plays out in similar ways that a love potion could. Where will it possibly take you?! Only Gods and ghosts know. Each story has a different ending.”
A huge part of their sound comes from playing the basic tracks together live in the studio, which is evident when they perform these songs and manage to conjure up exactly the same feel that the songs have on record.
As you get into the album, you will find about half of it to embrace moods and atmospheres well, whereas the other half is spent emulating their heroes from the aforementioned decades. This is a strength which gives the album diversity. Lyrically the album is similarly divided. Some of them are about tried and true topics like relationships or having a good time, but there are also moments very far from your average, straightforward type. A song like Coming Up Roses is about being murdered by your spouse, who digs you down in the garden where roses are planted over you to disguise the grave. As you can imagine, no peace is found and in the end they both end up lying there forever after. Who said romance is dead?
Cut down by your knife
I found a garden after life
It’s not enough for me
It’s not enough for me to die
The album ends with One of Us where the band channels 1980s Fleetwood Mac in a big way. Kimi brings out her inner Stevie Nicks wonderfully in the verses especially, while the choruses have musical shades of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. This is somewhat of a personal song for the band, highlighting the ups and downs of their adventures together. In conversation with The Gauntlet drummer Emily Moon highlights it as her favourite track on the album: “It’s hard for me to listen to this song without getting emotional. I’m a sucker for any song about being a band on the road. Play Carpenters’ Road Ode and I’ll be an absolute mess. When Kimi showed me One of Us for the first time I knew it had to be on the record. It feels like the most real and raw song on the record.”
I’m not gonna be around
Left my heart on the road
Every time I go away
Come back to less of a home
Tell you what you want to hear
Buy another year
You’ll be home collecting dust
Never be one of us
How to sum up the album? Bassist and founding member Aaron Lecesne told The Gauntlet, “This record took thirteen months to do and it wasn’t easy. It was definitely a labour of love, and these songs each equally represent a moment in time and a unique snapshot of where we were in life over the past year. Love Potions is an anthology, a complete work in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. You don’t write a novel and say, ‘This is the best chapter;’ you hand someone the entire book and ask them what they thought of it.”
Suffice to say, Starbenders are the real thing. Still a young band, I am excited at what they have accomplished so far and look forward to what they will do next. They were a new acquaintance for me in 2020, but one which I will definitely stay in touch with.
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