L’Avventura "Your Star Was Shining"

It is most satisfying when you hear an artist who sounds like he’s lived through this music. And lead singer/songwriter Jeff Davis set up shop with Fergus Griffin (guitar) and Also Silver (bass) to write a big fat love letter to all the girls he’s loved before. The group settled together in San Francisco involved producer Bond Bergland, and producer Jeff Saltzman (Green Day, Two Gallants, The Killers) and included drummer Michael Urbano (Sheryl Crow, Cake, John Hiatt).  “Your Star Was Shining” is a gloriously tuneful collection of rock-songs with an emphasis on songwriting and melody. It seems equal influence between Bryan Ferry, T-Rex and Elvis Costello and the opening track “Swandive” is a great opening here, as the rock star Lothario picks up the girl. The next track “Pretend You Don’t See Me” is a slick slice of Britpop with sophisticated arrangements and the delicate “Rocket Girl” is a sweet sister track to Paul Simon’s “Judy’s Comet.” This showcases the brilliant acoustic balladry and it’s one of the best tracks here. Since almost all the songs are about girls, it’s fitting that each one has it’s own unique flavor and most are great pop. “Miss Yugoslavia” is a bouncy mid-tempo number that recalls both McCartney and The Honeydogs, and Davis really sounds Costello-like here. The strutting guitar riffs in “Black Venus” make it another gem, recalling The Stones “Brown Sugar” (in both subject and style). “Queen Of The Forest” is full of sophisticated pop charm and stands as another winning track. I was more enamored by the slower songs on the album, as you can really appreciate the well written lyrics throughout. No fillers here, and the ending track is “Here’s To Absent Friends” melts The Beatles with Oasis-like swagger “We fanned the bonfire/ And we got guitars/ I’ll see you in the ethers, baby” in a richly orchestrated finale.

Overall, a real winner of a debut here and no doubt it makes my top 10 for 2009. Highly recommended and even better… we highly suggest you visit L’Avventura’s Website before March 1st.

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