Count Yer Lucky Stars… Gringo Wings

Review: Gringo Star – Count Yer Lucky Stars

Published on May 7th, 2012 | Jonny Abrams

The Atlanta four-piece’s follow-up to 2008 debut All Y’All, also produced by Ben Allen [Animal Collective, Gnarls Barkley, Deehunter], delights by virtue of its natural-sounding introducing of disparate styles to each other, and at times the results are excellent.

Opener and single “Shadow” is a subtly quirky piece of funky skank-pop with melty psych-pop harmonies and a blaring garage-rock production, and it’s one of the songs of the year so far. “You Want It” initially comes over all early Pixies before moulding that into a twisted Merseybeat, eventually sounding a bit like a sombre Fountains of Wayne and even with one particular breakdown deigning to add credence to this recently-tweeted assertion of Rocksucker’s.

“Got It” strikes as an early Beatles cover being dragged through a shoegaze car wash, “Beatnik Angel Georgie” spins a ’70s Americana feel out of golden, chiming guitar arpeggios, the title track is quite like a cross between Cast and The Wondermints (that’s likely a rather unhelpful explanation, so just know that it’s ace) and “Come Alive” does just that with a brief psychedelic Latin wig-out.

“Esmarelda” is dripping with swoonsome baroque elegance – imagine the song in an animated musical in which the bad guy sings about how he’s not all that bad, even though he is – while the gorgeous “Light in the Sky” sounds like an early Oasis b-side set to a country swagger, accruing splendour as it goes.

Unfortunately, Count Yer Lucky Stars runs out of steam just a tad with pretty yet unremarkable pair “Make You Mine” and “Mexican Coma”, so while this isn’t quite a great album you are left with the feeling that Gringo Star’s next one could be if they allow their more peculiar instincts a little more free rein. The stupendous “Shadow” should undoubtedly be the rough blueprint.

Rocksucker says: Three and a Half Quails out of Five!

a quail a quail a quail half a quail

Count Yer Lucky Stars is out now on Gigantic Music. For more information, including a list of live dates, please visit gringostar.net or the Gringo Star Facebook page.

Artists: gringo star

About the Author

Jonny Abrams Editor of Rocksucker and the website's founder, Jonny is passionate about the music he listens to, both good and bad, as well as interviewing his favourite musicians.