TC Superstar have plumbed the depths of outer-space on Static Dynamic, a sprawling celestial collection that serves as the performance group’s latest album.
Inspired by the discourse around colonising Mars, the eight-track project is helmed by producer and Superstar frontperson Connor McCampbell, who guides listeners on an interplanetary journey bound by a commitment to electronica.
The space travel begins with album opener Some Nights, which introduces the AI-generated narrator who will serve as the listener’s pilot through the cosmos.
The narrator’s Daft Punk-like vocal distortion precedes glitchy sound effects, which feel as though a cyberpunk rocket ship is booting up. The track coasts on shimmering synth section and jittery electro moments, while layering in bouncy rhythmic beats.
While firmly within this electronic sphere, the Some Nights plays with pop structures, from a catchy hook to an earworm of a repeated refrain.
The opener sees TC Superstar recall a dance floor-bound romance, mentioning a “beat [that] brought us together” that expertly matches the track’s glittery danceability.
In what remains a stylistic throughline for Static Dynamic, second entry Should Last likewise opens with an ear-catching spoken-word prologue, before launching into a slower-going tune brimming with pulsating percussive flairs.
Saying what listeners had likely already caught on to, Superstar begins the track with the line “this is a feel-good record,” setting the scene for what marks the album’s purest example of indie-pop.
Leaning into the more alternative reaches of this sound, Should Last features shiny instrumental sections and digital bleep effects, as well as regal brass sections.
If the two opening tracks chronicled TC Superstar’s pre-space flight jitters, then Forever soundtracks the rocket’s joyride. Offering the electronic equivalent of a road trip anthem, Forever is what might play as Superstar jet through astral planes, as punctuated by swooning theremin sections and an ascendent vocal performance.
Again recalling a particularly memorable affair, Forever sees Superstar inform a lover of their imminent departure, while recalling the fun they shared together.
Superstar reach a fresh galaxy on New Planet which, for all its consistency with the previous track’s celestial stylings, marks the album’s grooviest entry yet.
Here, Superstar make use of 70s-sounding guitar strums and the verse structure and vocal flair of Bee Gees’ equally groovable Stayin’ Alive.
Meanwhile, on what feels like a subtler version of hyper-pop, Stereotypical Disco infuses the kind of sharp electronic effects you might hear on an old school Nintendo game, while Can Love Be Kept Apart veers toward techno territory with a speedy BPM and minimalist arrangement.
Later, on penultimate track Earth Goes On, Superstar muses on his interplanetary journey with a high-pitched vocal timbre, before finalising his efforts on the white-noise reverie that is album closer Without You.
A richly textured track of ambient noise and atmospherics, the final entry, while purely instrumental, feels like a culmination of Superstar’s production handiwork, combining all of his electronic tastes while affording sonic space for reflection.
“I wanted to imagine the effects of a Mars work-assignment on a romantic relationship,” Superstar said of the concept behind Static Dynamic in a press statement, “[and] explore the severance the characters experience from each other’s reality.”
Every bit as enigmatic as its oxymoron title suggests Static Dynamic sketches a complex and richly-produced soundscape, further evolving TC Superstar’s string of successful albums since their 2017 debut Masc.
Head on an interplanetary odyssey with TC Superstar’s new album Static Dynamic below.
