The Eastern Stars have created an escapist sort of music devoid of place and time. It has older influences transfigured (or transfixed) through today. The effect is interesting — it sounds completely modern but in a throw-back sort of way.

It can be very sparse at times, with the guitar barely clinging to the drums, a loose vocal track placed on top of that. It has a stripped down folk aesthetic with some experimental sounds put in — this could be a great soundtrack for reading old Jack Kerouac writings. That’s it! Luna crossed with Kerouac crossed with transcendental existentialism.

Rob Corradetti and Kaia Wong did most of the work on this album. They’re also in a psychedelic pop band called Mixel Pixel. The music here was created under escapist tendencies back in 2001, with Rob and Kaia writing music in their Koreatown, Manhattan loft, to escape the other chaos around them. In a way they were going back to 1961, musically speaking. The music really has some retro-nostalgic vibes to it, in the same way that listening to the Carpenters can take you back in time instantly upon hearing it. The atmosphere of the music is permeated with the aesthetics of the early 60’s, not in a superficial way, but in a comfortable way.

There’s a haunting harmony betweeen Rob’s low tones and Kaia’s higher pitch. They sound ghost-like, their voices breathing out an aural glow over the top of slightly reverbed acoustic guitar.

There’s some really interesting forays here, but the music sometimes suffers from sounding incomplete. Experiments indeed, some of these songs start sounding like demos or unaltered recordings all done in one take. I keep wanting them too pull it off and sometimes they just barely miss the mark. Sometimes they confidently hit the mark though, and faith is restored. It’s interesting to listen to. Which is great for the folk vibe, and it can be more real than super glossy studio polish, but this sometimes comes across as skinny. It’s also one of the interesting dynamics on the album. Doesn’t that sound complicated? It sounds too rough… but I like how it sounds unfinished! It’s where The Eastern Stars land that’s really captivating. 3.7 out of 5 stars