My first introduction to the music of The Stills came when they opened for Interpol during the fall of 2003 - but the buzz coming from our southern neighbours about this band made its way up north much earlier than that.

Proclaimed by none other than Rolling Stone magazine as one of the hot new bands to watch for in 2004, The Stills were making a name for themselves on the New York rock scene (which had produced Interpol, The Strokes and Ryan Adams - for whom they have also opened). All this lead to some nice press about The Stills and how they fit into the burgeoning New York scene. This might seem normal except that The Stills are a Montreal band and had spent but a few months in the Big Apple. Finally, their music is being rightly associated to a strong Canadian indie scene that is becoming world famous (with bands like Broken Social Scene, and the Dears). With the release of their album "Logic will break your heart" and their recent stop in Montreal, The Stills are staking a claim to being known regardless of what scene they're being lumped with. Basically, their music is just that good.

Musically, The Stills take on much the same influences as Interpol - a look back towards more of an 80s sound with the oh-oh's (00's) mentality. Their lyrics are unabashedly about love - mostly of the lost variety. There's even a song about our fair city "Of Montreal", which mentions how pretty the people are (thank you, thank you). Their single "Still in Love Song" is a good litmus test (that's an indicator to all you non-science-oriented peeps) as to whether you'll like their music or not. To me, it's all driving drum beats, guitars keeping the rhythm, honest lyrics and just enough swagger to pull it off - and that tastes mighty fine to my musical taste buds.

"Logic will break your heart" would be one of my favourite CDs even if they weren't from Montreal. There really isn't a song on this album that I don't like (obviously there are some that I like less than others, but still)... This definitely deserves a Queen (of hearts, since I wrote this on St-Valentine's Day).

Hitch_n_Ditch
Queen