The album starts off with "When you have nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire." Very strong sadist statement, strangely enough, the lyrics of all the songs are simply enough to make the message across: Love sucks, regardless you have given it all or not.
I was first introduced to the song "One More night" by an old friend of mine, he said it was best listened after a breakup, so I did, it made me cry. It had so much impact I couldn't listen to the song for few days. Then few days later, I popped the CD back in my CD drive, and I haven't taken it out yet.

Honestly I had hesitated to listen to this band because I had heard that weren't as great as billed. Fortunately I listened to this album. This is an amazing record, not all the songs are perfect but there is more good than bad. "your ex-lover is dead," is one of the most beautiful songs that I have heard in awhile. "Reunion" takes me back to the days of high school and my impending high school reunion. "celebration guns," one of the darkest songs on the album, but it still has so much hope in it. "soft revolution," and "calender girl" close out the album with gusto and beautiful lyrics. I think everyone should at least listen to this record once, they won't regre it.

In many ways, a band like Stars, Broken Social Scene or the New Pornographers somehow manage to make very accessible records without feeling like they were recorded solely because they knew it would sell. Sure songs on this record are quite hooky yet you can instantly tell the difference between these songs or ones from say Good Charlotte or a Simple Plan. Stars last release before it got the remix treatment, Set Yourself on Fire is a very likable record and easy to sing along with and love, that is if you want to.

The album starts off with "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" with vocalists Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan trading verses before they come together at the end. This is an example of a song that gets in your head despite the lack of a proper "chorus" that repeats. "Ageless Beauty" was the big hit of the record and while musically it's quite basic, it's propelled largely by Millan's vocals which are quite ethereal in a way on the song. "Reunion" is another likable track largely sung by Campbell with Millan adding in some flavor. This is another one of those catchy tracks that will become a favorite over time. The rest of the songs are just as memorable although, some like "The First Five Times" aren't that stellar.

My absolute favorite track on the record and probably of their career is the album closer, "Calendar Girl". When taken at face value, lyrically it's very honest in that "life sucks but I'm trying" message and musically it's really 3 chords but damn if Millan doesn't sing it beautifully. When she sings the line "I'm alive" at the end, you're almost not sure if she's celebrating this fact or she's just pointing out the irony considering the subject matter: living without nothing special about it.

Like a lot of bands with duel vocalists, you tend to prefer one over the other (aside from everyone's fav Fab Four). In this case, Millan has one of the best female voices in rock today but Campbell, while no slouch in his own right, doesn't really have the emotive power Millan brings. Kind of reminds me of Oasis' Gallagher bros. with Noel being the more range-y singer but Liam being the most emotive. Granted, a lot of songs on here such as The Big Fight or Your Ex-Lover is Dead work for the trade-offs but when they're primarily Campbell-led, such as the aforementioned "First Five Times" or "He Lied About Death", despite Millan's additions, don't work as well.

All in all, it's probably one of the best records they've done and one of the better "pop rock" releases lately.

It only took a couple of seconds listening to 'Your Ex-Lover is Dead' for me to decide that I needed to own this album. To be honest, that track stands out for its beautiful orchestration and tone. The instrumentation is well done, with a complementary mix of strings, brass, and your traditional band bits to create a beautiful, uplifting, and sombre tone.

Each song on this album is carefully produced to create a smooth tone which is mostly laidback and embracing. This is music fully imbued with uplifting melancholy.

This is a GREAT album if you like that sort of thing.