Radiating a dynamic blend of raucous rock bursts and lush, introspective warmth, I love you, trackstar is a captivating full-length from Los Angeles-based artist Stinkus. The project of producer/songwriter Tyler Thompson impressed last year with the album 23, and continues to show strongly here. Crafted during a two-week creative retreat in rural Michigan, I love you, trackstar moves fluidly between hazy guitar twangs, soaring anthemic moments, and tender reflections on identity and belonging. Its balance of melodic vulnerability and textured energy creates a sound that feels both deeply personal and effortlessly expansive.
Opening track “Plastic Blue” is exemplary of the project’s melodic, versatile tonal range. Hazy guitar twangs accompany a vulnerable lyrical state, opting to sport a color “I don’t feel comfortable in.” A blast-off of emotion ensues, as a title-touting refrain hits hard with enthused vocal layers and whirring guitars. A beautifully raucous rock spirit takes hold as the free-flowing guitar work bursts with impassioned allure, maneuvering seamlessly from the dreamy introspection to rousing, textured catharsis. Arriving next is the equally immersive “Falling In Love,” which caught our ears earlier with its steady guitar strums and Ocean LeClair’s memorable vocals.
A stirring expanse also takes hold on “only when it comes to you, i guess” — where debonair slacker-rock stylings maneuver enjoyably into multi-layered vocal affections. A repetition of the track title ascends gorgeously from understated intrigue into harmonious appeal, where intermingling vocal tones and caressing guitars craft a serenely absorbing sound. “Casino” then shifts back into the realm of soaring rock, achieving an anthemic vigor by the one-minute turn as elongated vocals and shoegaze-y guitar drones evolve into a punchier send-off. “Curiously intent (underdog)” succeeds with similar guitar-forward grandiosity, moving from folk-ready perceptions of personal readiness into a riveting final minute, where wordless vocal ghostliness collides with thrilling guitar twangs for a replay-inducing ardor.
The album continues to immerse with its standout songwriting and knack for sating structural expanses. Its title track excels, weaving its smitten lyrical declarations with buoyant guitar strums, resembling another The Avalanches and Toro y Moi collaboration in its blissful aesthetic. Elsewhere, “Bleeding Orange” also enamors in its feel-good sentiments of belonging — its radiant vocals exuding: “I know I won’t be scared of all that’s to come, I found a place where I can feel I belong.” The hazy textures and sturdy guitar strums pair with a lovingly melodic vocal lead.
From the warming vocal harmonies and frolicking guitars within “Coming To An End” to the illuminated folk heart of “The Oath,” which closes the album with twinkling hypnotics and artful lyrical musings on finality, I love you, trackstar is a thoroughly moving success of an album from Stinkus.
