Crystal Fighters - Star of Love

There is an alluring sense of mystery surrounding UK group Crystal Fighters and their debut album Star of Love. This mysterious nature is conveyed firstly through the album cover, which shows two masked witches standing aside an exotic looking woman with percussive instruments and is set presumably in a Spanish jungle, where the band draw the majority of their influences. It is then noticeable in the broad range of musical stylings that are drawn from throughout Star of Love that demonstrates the band’s attentiveness in combining as many elements as necessary to create a track they feel content with. The mystery also extends to the themes implemented in the band’s songwriting; according to the band there is a “cosmic element” in each of their songs which was influenced by a half-written operatic manuscript left behind by one of the band members’ grandfathers, who became a recluse in the latter years of his life. It was in these writing that Crystal Fighters opted to look into more conceptual aspects of life rather than focusing on the basics of particular situations.

As was aforementioned, these songs are heavily influenced by the music of the Basque region of northern Spain. The band use traditional Basque instruments such as txalapartas and txistus (10 points for pronouncing these correctly) to great extent throughout Star of Love, and the vibe they aim to give off becomes evident early on in the album. Yet it is their fusion of these instruments with a number modern day musical offshoots (think Latin acoustic guitars and Spanish lyrics melding together with dance beats, flourishes of synth and heavy electronic build-ups) that really create the Crystal Fighters sound. And they certainly deserve some level of credit for attempting to produce something so original and conceptual on the whole.

The only difficulty with these kinds of albums is overcoming the imposed facetious nature that they tend to carry, and Star of Love is no exception. It is almost a case of the more you know the lesser the experience becomes. Crystal Fighters make music that generally, and by all means minus any offence, does not take much thought to envelope. This overall makes for a completely enjoyable listening experience, one that evokes hope and happiness on the whole and will be appreciated by many, that much is clear. Tracks like Plage and Follow are the most indicative moments on Star of Love that completely demonstrate the band’s musical direction, combining every element of their sound to create some completely incredible tracks. Other standout songs on the album include Champion Sound, which sees the band dapple in flourishes of synth reminiscent of Four Tet’s recent work, and Swallow, which cleverly blends winding acoustic melodies and distant panpipes with heavy dubstep – and in case you were wondering, yes, this does work on so many levels.

However, this is an album that does take a number of listens to fully appreciate. Upon running this through for the first time you may get the feeling of ‘what have I just been listening to?’ The problem with Star of Love is that it comes in blocks; an aural onslaught of heavy dance tracks is thrust upon you at first, then the album slows down and slightly trails off into unnecessary tracks (see particularly I Love London) before once again reclaiming the listener’s attention towards the end of the album. There is no clear flow between each track, which, if implemented, would have made Star of Love a complete success. Furthermore, if you completely take away the cited influences that were drawn upon by the band on this release you will find an upbeat, eclectic, and mostly uplifting collection of songs that would rate highly in their own arena. It is hard though not to think about the manuscripts that many of these songs are based on, and in doing so, wonder about where these stories fit exactly in the context of each song. It almost becomes an instance of the band thinking too hard about what they are putting out, and feeling the need to justify everything they produce.

Crystal Fighters will certainly be a mainstayer on the live scene, with the nature of their music surely hard to resist on any dance-floor they perform on. The band has created a fantastic, carefree vibe on Star of Love, and although this appears as somewhat of a conceptual album, the group should have no trouble following this up in future releases. And to be honest, wherever this music is coming from I want to be there, and I trust you will too.

• According to a recent interview with triple j, Crystal Fighters debut visit to Australian shores is "imminent" (perhaps a Splendour In The Grass appearance), so this is what we may come to expect from the band in a live sense later this year.