Today it is our pleasure to introduce the Stockholm post-rock quartet Star of Heaven, now on their third album. This one is a special treat due to its form of presentation ~ performed live in Öregrunds church, with resonant acoustics. Piano and bowed guitar enhance an already wide sound, nudging it toward the orchestral realm, providing a sense of gravitas that is suitable to the setting. Fans of MONO should purchase this immediately.
The album opens with the tolling of church bells, a beautiful touch. In recent years, churches and post-rock have become good friends, to the extent that the genre has even made inroads in Christian music (see Hillsong UNITED’s “Oceans,” whose chords find echoes in the closing minutes of “Kyrie I”). The reason is clear: no matter what one’s religion, the music has the ability to transport the listener to a higher state of mind without drugs. The peaks and valleys imitate those of life; the striving undercurrent reflects battle, the cacophonies catharsis. The five-part “Kyrie” conveys all of these feelings and more, unfolding as a suite with brief interjections of applause and the insertion of 2021 single “The Harp.” (2022 single “The Eye” is also recommended.) “The Harp” begins with a flourish of keys before descending into chords, which will rise up and take control in their own time. Before that, there is time for supplication, surrender and serenity. One wonders if the attendees were already worshippers, or if this music became their form of worship; either way, the effect is the same.
In the second half of “Kyrie IV,” the band hits its percussive peak. The shift feels like the moment in which thought becomes action, plan becomes battle, or doubt becomes resolution. The chapel walls are shaking, but (fortunately for the attendees), they don’t come tumblin’ down. There is no “Kyrie V,” as “IV” leads to the finale of “VI,” but the reverie is uninterrupted; “Kyrie V” and others will follow with the next album. The focus shifts back to the swirling guitars. The fifth minute of the closing “Kyrie” seeks higher ground, and finds it. The sixth minute returns to earth and the peacefulness of piano. In a worship setting, the liturgical kyrie asks for the Lord’s mercy; in this concert, one feels as if the Lord has attended, and listened, and answered. (Richard Allen)
a closer listen 