It’s no crime to look backwards for your musical inspiration and Chicago’s Kerosene Stars are guilty of doing just that but it is easy to pardon them when they have managed to capture the spirit of a period in the past in just four songs.
Of course it helps when those four songs are well written and, dare I say it, catchy. The band’s musical proficiency also assists with Andy Seagram’s season ticket to ride on the train to the land of the jangly guitars seeing considerable use, particularly in the gloriously uplifting “A Million Little Trees”. Scott Schaafsma, for his part, makes for a confident and convincing lead singer and he handles “Whether Or Not” like he had personally invented power pop.
Despite the reverence for the past shown by Kerosene Stars, I can’t help but like this band and any band who can deliver four songs that would sound good on any radio made between 1970 and now also has my respect.