Call me biased, but whenever I see a rock LP that stretches to fifteen tracks long, I can’t help but feel a bit suspicious. To me, it speaks of a lack of clarity, of a band without a clear direction or sense of purpose. This pretty much sums up the third record, Miracle Mile, from Portland electro-rock group Starf***er (stylized for mass consumption as “STRFKR”), a needlessly lengthy album characterized by washed-out vocals, watered-down production and paper-thin songwriting.
The brainchild and lead vocalist of the group, Joshua Hodges, has never been the type of lightning-rod presence that most frontmen strive to be. Listen to previous STRFKR releases, and the most memorable bits tend to be characterized by clever, dramatic synth lines bolstered by danceable, propulsive rhythms. Hodges’ vocals, then, seemed to act in those cases as a final bit of sonic layering over the instrumentals, or the icing on the cake, as some might say.
What happens, then, when that same cake is half-baked? Well, get even a third of the way through Miracle Mile and you’ll see that without a strong instrumental presence, most of these songs fall pretty flat.
As the flower-patterned cover suggests, STRFKR has aimed for a more organic sound on this record, and tries to rely on a solid foundation of mid-tempo rock tunes instead of its electro-rock background. It’s an unwise artistic choice, especially given that the much-weaker second half of the band’s last album, Reptilians, was hampered by this sort of mid-tempo guitar noodling.
Rather than focus on the pure energy that makes the group’s live show so enthralling STRFKR tries to employ a more deliberate rock sound. This, in turn, puts an awful lot of pressure on Hodges, who fails to deliver as a frontman by nearly every account.
His vocals are almost always drowned in reverb, giving them a washed-out quality that never truly captures your attention—some might call it psychedelic or atmospheric, but I’d just call it mumbling. Meanwhile, his lyrics are mostly indiscernible, though as the chorus of opener “While I’m Alive” suggests (“While I’m alive / I love my life”), we really may not be missing that much. The truth is, what used to at least appear to be an artistic decision is revealed on Miracle Mile to be a crippling weakness for the band. As STRFKR slows things down, the group sorely needs a strong frontman, and Hodges lacks either the confidence or vocal ability to be one.
The production is similarly flat. The synthesizers sound cheap, the drums lack the punch they had on STRFKR’s previous LP and the guitars sound rather generic. Understandably, not every band has the budget to hire Paul Epworth, but there are ways to sound low-key without being underwhelming (Unknown Mortal Orchestra, we’re looking at you). STRFKR, instead, just sounds plain.
The album isn’t entirely without its merits, though—there are occasional hints at greatness, usually when the instrumentalists are given a little more room to flex their muscles, as on the welcome-surprise intensity of “Sazed” or the more traditional electro-rock of “Atlantis” or “Leave It All Behind.” The mostly instrumental, slow-burn closer “Nite Rite,” furthermore, is also pretty fantastic, creating a well-defined sense of mood that’s otherwise absent from this record.
Taken as a whole, though, Miracle Mile is a truly frustrating record. While its scope is expansive, its overall sound can best be described as tentative. Though the group has now released three studio albums, STRFKR still sounds unsure of itself, and Hodges clearly lacks the confidence and talent that he needs to take the band anywhere new. Really, there’s not much STRFKR does on this record to distinguish itself from the thousands of groups of guys dabbling in electro-rock in college bars every weekend. Except for, maybe, using a crappier band name to do it.
