A lovely display of modern retro-soul, “Same Stars” is the stellar debut single from Santa Fe-based singer and bassist Montana Joanna. The playful track pairs a grooving, self-taught bassline with vibrant live horns, jazzy piano, and impactful vocals. Lyrically, the song delivers a quirky, cosmic take on attraction, blending wordplay about alien encounters and astrology charts into a soulful celebration of unity and stardust.
Montana Joanna explains: “The song’s lyrics came to me almost all at once, and almost as an inside joke with a lot of wordplay—the lyrical premise being: you meet an alien then find yourself attracted to them. It’s also playing with astrology concepts like birth charts and rising signs—I know I can’t be the only one out there who has googled my crush’s astrology chart first thing when I meet them! Finally it ends with that comforting and familiar idea that we are all made of stardust.”
Glistening keys, grooving bass, and smooth brass adornments open the track with majestic soulfulness. “Take you anywhere you want to go,” Montana Joanna’s dreamy vocal presence emerges, gradually becoming multi-layered as flourishes of jazzy piano move in alongside. A soaring bridge and beckoning to “tell me the time and the place” continue to delight in its melodically heartfelt pull, smitten in its “together we can make the most beautiful shapes” proclamation, on planet Earth or beyond.
The track’s final minute enthralls in its vocal refrain — “looking at the same stars” — in exuding a sense of unity and love, progressing seamlessly from a funky, soulful bustling expanse to a more delicately starry-eyed send-off. A ravishing combo of warming brass, magnetic vocals, and structural momentum make “Same Stars” a fantastic listening experience, and a surefire soul-pop success from Montana Joanna.
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The track is also featured in the genre-based, best-of Spotify compilation Emerging Indie Soul.
We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
