The Stills – Rememberese (Vice)

Rememberese is a four-song teaser EP from The Stills, a Montreal quartet that makes its full-length debut in October with Logic Will Break Your Heart (Vice). “Still in Love Song” is the obvious bomb track, and not simply because it appears in regular and 12″ remix formats. It’s a charming intersection of The Cure’s “Lovesong” with the dudda-dudda-dudda of post-punk guitars – in other words, the perfect song for every third listener to kick off his or her Autumn 2003 “Friendster Friends Mix CD” with. “Killer Bees” keeps the chugga chugga going, but lets lead guy Tim Fletcher break out a sort of brit-pop croon. Afterthought “Talk to Me” is important if only for its defining lyric, “I’m not that angry / You’re just not that cool.” Fortunately for The Stills, they believe they are that cool, and even seem to have the chops to back up the bravado. Like The Rapture, another band of young lovelies freely mixing the jar and screech of post-punk with the bouncy bass lines that get the ladies (see the DFA’s remix of “House of Jealous Lovers” if you don’t believe me), Montreal’s new favorite sons should find a big market for their commercial (not radio)-ready sound. Don’t hate them – humming “Still in Love Song” is guaranteed to get you a beguiling glance from that hair dye hottie on the El platform. Better invest in a four button suit now.

JTL