Look, I know I get excited about bands a little too easily. My enthusiasm has raised more than a few eyebrows among friends, family, and coworkers over the years. I doubt any of them understand just how much I’ve been looking forward to this week, because Philadelphia’s Mopar Stars have finally released their debut LP.
It has been a long time coming. Their 2023 EP Shoot The Moon was one of those rare “where has this band been all my life?” discoveries. A year later, Burning Question somehow proved it wasn’t a fluke. Then Stupid Bag Records did us all a favor by collecting both EPs on one essential LP. But Official Researchers Of The NJ Devil is the real thing: a full-length statement from a band that has been quietly building an impeccable batting average.
The higher your expectations, the greater the chance of disappointment. Not this time. Press play on opener Wreck The Bike. Isn’t that one of the finest indie rock songs you’ve heard all year? It’s the opening chapter of a breathless 28-minute songwriting masterclass. Mopar Stars isn’t trying to reinvent rock ‘n’ roll. Quite the opposite. The band works with the same familiar building blocks everyone else has access to. The trick is that they somehow arrange them into songs that feel fresher, brighter, and more irresistible than they have any right to.
That probably shouldn’t come as a surprise. Mopar Stars is made up of members of Poison Ruïn, Zorn, Positronix, TVO, ICD10, and Sheer Mag, all seemingly using this band to indulge their collective power pop addiction. George Orwell never actually wrote this, but he probably should have: all hooks are equal, but some hooks are more equal than others. If someone stuck me in an MRI scanner while this record was playing, I’m convinced they’d discover an entirely new section of the brain devoted exclusively to Mopar Stars hooks.
There are traces of ’70s power pop and classic rock, ’80s college rock, and ’90s alternative rock all over Official Researchers Of The NJ Devil. But none of that really explains why this record is so good. Some bands just have that rare ability to make great songs sound effortless. Mopar Stars has it in absurd quantities.
If there is a better guitar record coming out this year, I’d genuinely like to hear it. Until then, this is the one I’ll be trying to convince everyone else to fall in love with.
Just discovered the album and it’s fantastic. Like you say a sprinkling of a lot of different influences but it sounds like none of them. I know power pop is one of those genres that inspires devotion while never breaking cover to a larger fan base. Hopefully this is a rare record that can push the band over the top because it really deserves it.