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Sep 24, 2012This is an album that proves that Stars are fully themselves, confident in their genre experimentation and fearless in the emotions they express.
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Sep 12, 2012Maintaining the melodramatic indie that Stars do so beautifully, The North manages to channel every aspect of the indie rock spectrum, whilst creating a body of art that is perfectly coherent.
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Nov 5, 2012Even 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.
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Alternative PressSep 4, 2012Punchier production and more energetic songwriting point The North in the right direction. [Oct 2012, p.92]
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Sep 4, 2012What 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.
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Sep 4, 2012This batch of 80s-pop-inspired tunes is packed with earworms and remarkably filler-free.
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Sep 6, 2012While this record may not quite reach the highs of Set Yourself On Fire or even Heart for that matter, it's still a hell of an album that clearly and succinctly makes the case for the band's continued relevancy in an over-stuffed pop marketplace.
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Sep 4, 2012On The North, Stars have evolved to match changing times and perspectives, and done so organically.
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Nov 1, 2012A set that is rich with a sense of storytelling, sentiment and atmosphere, warm beneath its songs' occasionally chilly edges.
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UncutOct 26, 2012They have produced a cohesive work that marries gauzy dreampop with more robust indie-rock. [Dec 2012, p.77]
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Sep 6, 2012Both Campbell and Millan shine on their own, but the album's stronger tracks happen when these two team up together.
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Sep 6, 2012Their 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.
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Sep 4, 2012The North isn't Stars burning their brightest, but they're a long ways away from flickering out.
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Oct 9, 2012Stars looks to its whimsical past but thumps it with electronic glitch, a most successful combo of two straddled aesthetics.
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Sep 4, 2012It unspools pleasantly and unhurriedly, possessing the sort of sparkly glow that often comes with rejuvenation.
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Under The RadarSep 4, 2012Ultimately, 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]
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Q MagazineDec 11, 2012Fans of Prefab Sprout, The Go-Betweens and Saint Etienne could do a lot worse than give their cerebral Canadian counterparts a go. [Jan 2013, p.110]
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MagnetOct 4, 2012Though not everything in the limper, bloatier back half hits the mark, they're mostly aiming in the right direction. [No.91 p.59]
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Sep 13, 2012The North continues to show off their skill and while nothing earth-shattering will be found here, it's something to fully bask in.
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Sep 12, 2012On The North, the band does much better [than on previous album, The Five Ghosts] at forcing its concerns through the filter of big emotion, yet it's still plagued by some of the same tasteful understatement.
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Sep 4, 2012The North's ultimate undoing isn't that it exudes so much schmaltziness, but that it sounds awkwardly and almost unconsciously dated, similar to the most recent offerings from indie-pop rockers Minus the Bear and Cold War.
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MojoDec 17, 2012The North feels like a shuffle back into soft focus. [Jan 2013, p.98]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 12 out of 14
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Mixed: 0 out of 14
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Negative: 2 out of 14
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Dec 24, 2012
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Sep 10, 2012