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The North Image
Metascore
70

Generally favorable reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 14 Ratings

  • Summary: The sixth full-length album for the Canadian indie rock band was produced with Graham Lessard and Marcus Paquin.
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 22
  2. Negative: 0 out of 22
  1. Sep 24, 2012
    85
    This is an album that proves that Stars are fully themselves, confident in their genre experimentation and fearless in the emotions they express.
  2. Sep 4, 2012
    80
    What is easy to figure out is that they are still operating at top capacity and anyone looking for smart, emotional pop that sounds almost perfect can turn to Stars for all their needs.
  3. Nov 5, 2012
    80
    Even if you weren't a fan of their last couple [of albums], there's definitely going to be something for you here. As soon as the synth kicks in for opener 'The Theory Of Relativity', you know you're in for a treat.
  4. Sep 6, 2012
    70
    Their sixth album comes as a breath of fresh air after the dreary synthetics and spectral meditations of The Five Ghosts, opting once more to focus on the need to love passionately, messily, and dramatically, this time in the face of middle-aged stability rather than the reckless abandon of one's 20s.
  5. Oct 9, 2012
    67
    Stars looks to its whimsical past but thumps it with electronic glitch, a most successful combo of two straddled aesthetics.
  6. Under The Radar
    Sep 4, 2012
    65
    Ultimately, it's the strength of their convictions that elevates the autumnal musing of The North from mere electro-pop fancy to emotionally affecting tales of love, death, and everything in between. [Aug/Sep 3012, p.113]
  7. Mojo
    Dec 17, 2012
    40
    The North feels like a shuffle back into soft focus. [Jan 2013, p.98]

See all 22 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. Sep 10, 2012
    9
    Some songs have very strong influences coming through - New Order specifically at times, for instance, but all in all, another solid effort.Some songs have very strong influences coming through - New Order specifically at times, for instance, but all in all, another solid effort. Not as emotionally fierce as "Set Yourself on Fire" or as strongly themed as "The Five Ghosts," but the album has enough variety, sweeping instrument sounds, and poignant moments to please Stars fans recent or long-standing. Collapse
  2. Dec 24, 2012
    8
    Stars are a very talented group of musicians and they prove it again this time. A variety of indie rock songs and they've all got very goodStars are a very talented group of musicians and they prove it again this time. A variety of indie rock songs and they've all got very good lyrics. The first half isn't as entertaining as the 2nd one and all in all it was somehow too stained. Anways, this is a album you have to hear because it's just so chilling, whether the song is happy or sad. They can do better, but this is definitely one of their best releases yet. Expand