Album Review: Starcatcher

I've been waiting for July 21st to roll around for a long time because that's the day Starcatcher, Greta Van Fleet's fourth album, drops. Their last effort, The Battle At Garden's Gate, did not impress me. The singles for this album impressed me, for the most part. Per usual, I'll go through the album, track by track, and give my thoughts; I'll rate each one and tell you what's worth the listen and what's not.

First, however, here are some overarching thoughts about the album in its entirety. The singles (especially Sacred the Thread) worried me due to some weird mixing of Josh Kizka's voice. Unfortunately, the mixing on the album seems to reflect those concerns. Most of the tracks are one big blob of sound; not only are the vocals difficult to pick out, but so are the instruments, at times. The album is drenched in reverb, far too much for my taste. While that's far from the only flaw in this album, it is the most glaring, often dragging down the quality of the tracks individually.

With that in mind, let's get into it:

Fate Of The Faithful (4:46)

Right off the bat you can tell that the boys from Detroit are keeping this weird mystical vibe alive. Try your best to make out the lyrics! Spoiler alert: you will never be able to figure out what Josh is saying, but even if you could, it wouldn't make any sense.

Here's the problem with Starcatcher: it might as well be fan-made. There's no real consideration behind most of the lyrics on this album. The band knows their audience, and they know that it doesn't matter what the songs say as long as they sound loud and cool and mystical. Here's the chorus:

We fought for the fable, ah

But instead, we burn

And in the end of time, ah

Left an empty urn

Who are they fighting? Why are they fighting them? What's the fable? The end of time?? What was in the urn to begin with? These are all questions that will never be answered because there's no logical rhyme or reason to the lyrics in Fate Of The Faithful.

Now that that's established, we can talk about the instrumentals. It's not terrible, as far as openers go, but it's nothing special. It's reminiscent of Caravel, a mediocre track in its own right, but at least the lyrics were intelligible on that track (if still nonsensical). I like the synthesizer to open the track, and it returns nicely to preface each chorus. The back half of the song is a breakdown of sorts, with greater dynamic contrast and some odd percussion choices occasionally. They do a "Whole Lotta Love"-style vocal chorus bend before the guitar solo, which is decent but not compelling. The end features a Mountain Of The Sun-style vocal-percussion duet leading into the finale.

Fate Of The Faithful is just not particularly interesting, and it sounds like a lot of other tracks on Starcatcher, as we'll see here shortly. I'll give it a bit more love for the synth.

Rating: 5.5/10

Waited All Your Life (4:26)

Greta brings back the acoustic guitar for the second track on the album, a plea with someone to "Please stay". They keep the religious imagery going without leaning so far into the mystical aspect, leading to somewhat-coherent imagery conjured by the lyrics, even if it's rather unclear what Josh is trying to encourage. I don't love the chorus, but it fits well with the guitar work over it. Waited All Your Life is formulaic, generic Greta without the mysticism; you can decide if that's a good thing or not.

You've come from so far away

And do you intend to stay?

Swim to shore

If this is what you're looking for

Shout, "Oh Lord"

If this is what you're looking for

You've been on your way

You've been on your way

Please stay

This is not what I'm looking for, but it's a fun listen. The bass deserves some credit as the anchor of this track, especially considering the lacking guitar work. Bonus points for the lack of mysticism.

Rating: 6/10

The Falling Sky (3:38)

The Falling Sky features one of the more recognizable opening riffs, giving it a solid drive that other Starcatcher tracks don't have. That drive is quickly marred by the chorus, when Josh apparently gave up on writing lyrics and Jake apparently gave up on playing actual, coherent guitar riffs in favor of blocky, muddled one-note playing.

If you thought the lyrics on Fate Of The Faithful were bad, you're in luck! Here's the chorus:

Whoa, whoa!

Whoa, holding up the falling sky

(repeat)

Repeat that chorus over and over and over again, add in messy production, muddy guitar, and a bizarre harmonica solo, and you've covered the entirety of The Falling Sky. This was the fourth and final single in preparation for the release of the album; it was, by far, the worst. There's an argument to be made for this track as the worst on the album as a whole, but I won't bother trying to actually figure that out considering how similar many of these songs sound. Won't be listening to this one very much.

Rating: 3/10

Sacred The Thread (5:21)

Ironically, the song with the dumbest meaning is one of my favorites on the album. That's hard to do, considering how dumb most of the meanings are, if they're present at all. Sacred The Thread is a tribute to Josh's sparkly outfits he wears on stage, a call back to Zeppelin-era costumery. Fittingly, it opens with a Bonham-esque drum intro. The intensity of this song seems unnecessary, but I guess it conveys how deeply Josh feels about his costumes? I don't know. The bottom line is that this track rocks. It has awesome, consistent percussion, memorable guitar, and a catchy chorus.

I've caught the wind in a kite of dreams, in a flight of seams

Like freedom sewn, and the people roar, and the people soar

Sacred the thread, sacred the thread

I've caught the wind in a kite of dreams, in a flight of seams

If you think about the chorus long enough, you can gaslight yourself into believing that they coherently convey the point Josh is trying to make about playing live, and wearing silly costumes, and hearing people sing along to his songs. I respect the commitment to the Zeppelin cover band act in an era when nobody plays music like it anymore.

It took a while, but the verses grew on me, especially the adjusted hook before the second chorus. The vocal mixing is odd (this was the track that made me concerned with the mixing from the start), but it doesn't drag this track down too much. They rely a bit too much on the vocals here, and the meaning is a bit silly for the tone of the track, but Sacred The Thread is a classic Greta track, and at least it means something.

Rating: 7.5/10

Runway Blues (1:17)

I get that Josh didn't want this song to be included, and I understand why, but if you're gonna put it on here you have to at least include the whole track, or else release it separately. Accordingly with the length of this track, I won't waste my breath. It's a fast-paced jam session with no real lyricism. There's one chorus that's nearly impossible to make out, Josh's voice is still mixed poorly, and there's no recognizable riff or melody. It lands on a guitar "solo" of sorts that quickly fades out.

99% of the fangirls I've seen love this track and demand "justice" for it, seeing as the song barely gets going on the album. I hate to break it to you, but even if this track was full length, even if we got to see how loud it gets, it still wouldn't be anything special. It's a basic blues without the musical prowess to execute it correctly. Not bothering to rate this one, as it should never have been included in this form.

The Indigo Streak (4:04)

Back to real songs now. For all the talk of how far Greta stretches their "artistic boundaries" on this album, The Indigo Streak is the only track that actually changes their sound in any significant way. The guitar is as memorable as it gets, with a consistent lurching riff that anchors the song in an odd, swaying, feel. The chorus matches the guitar work, sliding down from an upper range in a more organized way than usual. Once the chorus hits, the guitar weakens significantly, a flaw prevalent throughout the album.

Even though the guitar doesn't maintain the momentum is picks up from the start, I love what they did with it. It's a really cool riff that makes the track stand out, desperately needed on this album. Alas, the lyrics do not match the guitar.

Into the ether, ready for the garden

Into it, deeper, even heavens harken

What does it mean? Into the ether they go, so deep that even heavens harken. I wonder how high Josh was when he wrote this, and if he can ever return to such a state to explain what he was thinking. I want to badly to love this track, and I'll definitely be listening to it, but I just wish the lyrics meant something, anything cogent.

Rating: 7/10

Frozen Light (4:32)

They said the title of the song! Bonus: they even made it into a simile after! Masterful writing. The lyrics cut a bit more clearly on Frozen Light, although they aren't particularly intriguing; still, Josh gets back to conjuring some clear images here. The song sounds like what frozen light would look/feel like: cold, dim, and the antithesis of vibrant. Still, it feels like filler. Verse one:

Frozen light like falling snow

Here to guide us the long way home

The streets are silent, the moonlight is dancing

Four brothers searching for a meal

Ok, so it's basically a representation of the band (four brothers, or three brothers and one extra) on the "road", a very common theme in their songwriting (see: My Way, Soon). Greta Van Fleet is on a journey, if you couldn't tell, and they seem to make zero progress with each passing album. The lyrics are trite and jaded, boring and confiscated. If that's your best, your best won't do, GVF! (Sorry, Twisted Sister reference). The guitar solo is worse than usual, the overall guitar work is uninteresting, the chorus refuses to stick in your mind, and the songwriting is copy-pasted from other Greta tracks. Moving right along!

Rating: 5/10

The Archer (5:00)

Points deducted immediately for getting Taylor Swift stuck in my head every time it comes on. According to GVF fans (so, disregard), The Archer is supposed to be one of the best tracks on Starcatcher. I'm here to tell you that writing a song in 6/8 sets you up for failure. The percussion and the chorus are the most annoying pieces of this track; Danny Wagner sits on the hi-hat for the entirety of the song, drilling that little tinny cymbal into your forehead whether you like it or not. Josh does a "classic" descending chorus in time with the 6/8 rhythm, creating a Gaelic-style feel that isn't unique whatsoever. Another uninspiring guitar solo finishes up another uninspiring effort. Credit for consistency.

Final blow

My heaviness of breath has been lifted

Let the world know my name

I am the archer

Torn, I turn to my bow, Sara

Torn, I turn to my arrow, Sara

Who names their bow and arrow the same thing, and who names either of them Sara? Bad choice, Josh! There's kind of a storyline here, as the archer searches for "vengeance" and "justice", as illustrated with a metaphor of such absolute brilliance that I won't even bother to write the lyrics here. He kills things, and his bride dies, and he rides a horse, and it's just all very mystical and very nonsensical. It rocks sometimes, and it's not atrocious, but it's totally uninspiring once again.

That's it for the super depressing part of the review, because it gets sorta good now! Thank goodness!

Rating: 5/10

Meeting The Master (5:11)

I'll give them a pass for weird lyrics here because this song is incredibly fun to listen to. I don't know who the "master" is, and I don't know what kind of drugs Josh used to get "taken...by the madness, and the tripping, and the touching", but it sounds amazing. As the first single in anticipation of the album, Meeting The Master gave me a lot of hope for a more distinctive sound from GVF this time around; alas, that hope was unfounded. Still, we got a banger out of it.

It takes over two minutes for them to reach the rocking part of the track, but the acoustic guitar from the beginning until that point is solid and interesting. Josh's vocals are mixed well, very distinct and strong, which makes me wonder when they screwed them up so badly on the other tracks. The buildup to the climax is well-executed, utilizing some synthesizer into a drum hit. The vocals, again, are powerful; the rest of the track rides the guitar to the end over some fun wailing vocals and a return to the "ram, ram, ram" chant from Trip The Light Fantastic (one of my favorites). They repeat a triumphant chant a few times at the end with renewed ferocity to close it out.

Yeah, it's corny. Yeah, it's mystical. But it's as unique as Starcatcher gets, and it's better songwriting than Greta demonstrates typically. It did a great job generating hype for an album that didn't live up to it.

Rating: 8/10

Farewell For Now (4:29)

Fan service, but executed pretty well. Farewell For Now is a tribute to the fans, a celebration of their extraordinarily success touring. I would've loved to see the lyrics come down to Earth a bit here, to really demonstrate how much GVF loves touring and playing sold-out shows consistently, but this will have to do. The tones of the chorus and the verses don't match up; they both celebrate their playing, but with varying degrees of mysticism and reality.

We have shared with you our stories

Had ourselves a really big time

Fought in battles far from the homeland

Made love, even drank from the wine

I mean, maybe that's based in reality! It seems a bit dramatic; they're not fighting anyone on their tours, as far as I know. Still, it's a solid tribute, as the chorus indicates.

And I wish we all could stay

But I bid you a farewell

And it means the world to play

But I bid you a farewell

And the outro:

Gathered here tonight

Did it up just right

And it's all for you

Farewell For Now is, in all honesty, a brilliant way to end an album for a band with a fanbase like GVF. It seemed like an odd choice as a single, but considering the quality of other tracks on the album, it makes sense.

As far as the music goes, I like the intro with the acoustic feel, and I like the percussion, which feels a bit thinner than usual. Josh has some nice harmonies and solid vocals throughout, bolstered by good-but-not-great guitar; it stays mostly acoustic and clean classic tone, giving the track a bit more of a unique sound. The solo fits well and it's up to par with others on the album, perhaps a bit better. Farewell For Now goes by quickly, a fun way to close out Starcatcher.

Rating: 6/10

And now, at last, the tier list.

Bangers

1- Meeting The Master

2- Sacred The Thread

On the Playlist

3- The Indigo Streak

4- Farewell For Now

Almost On the Playlist

5- Waited All Your life

6- Fate Of The Faithful

It's All the Same to Me

7- Frozen Light

8- The Archer

Bad

9- The Falling Sky

Bizarre

10- Runway Blues

I am disappointed, if you couldn't tell. I was hoping for a less mainstream album, some bold artistic choices and some fun, unique sound we don't get anywhere else. This was not that, but it was about what I would've expected. Hopefully they get the mixing figured out and they come back stronger next album.

Thanks for reading! This was a fun album to listen to nonetheless, and I hope you're enjoying it too.

Emory