Been Stellar – Scream from New York, NY

Been Stellar is one of my favourite discoveries of 2024. The debut record lives up to the hype

Released:

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There’s always a Lou Smith Video:

That performance happened long before this record came out, but it’s what turned me into a fan of Been Stellar. Manhattan Youth is an all-timer. But that’s not what we’re here about.

This record was so hotly anticipated in the space between my headphones that I’m surprised it’s not everywhere right now, even though indie bands blowing up isn’t a thing anymore (or maybe this is what that looks like today). It’s been widely and well–reviewed since its’ release last Friday (Pitchfork today too).

You don’t need another random internet dude telling you to listen to this band. But: Listen to this band. And you should start with their first EP.

Been Stellar’s music has hit me in a way only a handful of albums have (like Turn On the Bright Lights, and more recently, Letter to Self). It’s a familiar sound but it’s also fully unique. For a debut album, it’s incredibly rare. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions about a record on release day (or even release weekend), but I keep coming back to it the same way. It feels personal in a way that, say, my two other weekend obsessions (from Cemento Atlantico and The Mysterines, watch this space) don’t. It’s a headphones album, a driving alone album. It’s a record that feels like it was made, in a lab, for me only.

From the first track, Start Again, the characters in these songs are anxious, lost, and disillusioned. It’s about inequality and the bleakness of life in the city. How capitalism and politics have eaten up the American Dream. The lyrics are vague enough to make many of these songs rabbit holes — the R.E.M. and Ronald Reagan references in the title track, the apparent pining for 1999 in Can’t Look Away, the Genius moderators have their work cut out for them.

The stress is reflected in both the composition and the vocals, with most songs building tension from a near-spoken delivery at the outset to a full barrage of noise and shouted melodies by the end.

I’ve been listening to this record almost nonstop since its release on Friday. I’ve been trying to wear it out quick, thinking that my own anticipation of this record has me blind, that after a half dozen spins the weak spots would show and I’d be able to say constructive things about it. Hasn’t happened. The songs have only grown in appeal.

Far as I’m concerned though, it’s the second perfect record of 2024 (SPRINTS, of course).