February 5, 2001

Single Of The Week - STARSAILOR : Fever

Forget everything you've been told and just listen...

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Save the complaints. We're already bored of them. The fact is that some people are always going to hate Starsailor because others are enthusiastic about them. They'll always despise them because they've been handed so many of the things that other bands work years for and never achieve.

If you can put all that to one side for the minute, though, let's not forget the reason that Starsailor are everyone's favourite name to drop (hello, The Sun). They write unbelievable songs. Songs full of hope, longing and despair, the very extremes of every emotion used with such precision, such wisdom even, it's staggering to discover that cherubic, fascinating lead singer James Walsh is just 20. This is a band, remember, who only played their first gig last April and have yet to even record a debut album. Yet Walsh's voice already sounds timeless, wailing and soaring as if his very being depended on it. He's already been compared to both the Buckleys, to Richard Ashcroft, Chris Martin, and everyone else who's ever approached icon status. The truth, of course, is he's forging his own path.

That's how you know Starsailor are really special. And so, finally, here's the evidence. It could so easily have been a disappointment. Instead, the songs here are of such staggering beauty that they don't sound like a single and a couple of B-sides. They sound like the opening trio of songs on an album. Third track 'Love Is Here' is especially affecting, tender in its simplicity beside the more dramatic, rippling Doors organ in 'Fever'. Casually accomplished, devastatingly direct forget everything you've been told and just listen. Starsailor will make your mind up better than we ever can.

Siobhan Grogan

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