STAR by BELLY (1993, 4AD)

One from the archives today. Star was the debut album by Belly. Formed in 1991 by Tanya Donnelly, ex of Throwing Muses and The Breeders. The band name was chosen because it was "both pretty and ugly", a sentiment that informs much of this their first album. It’s a mixture of spooky pop songs with disturbing lyrics about witches and decapitated dolls, delivered with disarming little-girl sweetness by Donnelly.

Belly seem to be on to those early 90s bands that have been largely forgotten about. At the time easily and inappropriately lumped together as part of a scene with the confrontational female fronted indie/grunge act like Hole, L7 and Babes In Toyland. Belly were an altogether softer and easier proposition. Less aggressive or abrasive than their counterparts Belly sound much closer to early REM or even The Pixies at their most accessible, think tunes like ‘Gigantic’ or ‘Where is my Mind’. The comparisons are inevitable when you consider that the album is produced by Pixies producer Gil Norton and Donnelly featured on the first Breeders album, Pod, with former Pixies bassist Kim Deal.

Star is the kind of indie pop that was killed off by Britpop; smart, jangly, kooky American college rock with sweet pop hooks and at times slightly spaced-out. A little like a disturbed Bangles. Belly were a band very much the preserve of their UK label, 4AD, the home of the aforementioned Pixies, Muses, as well as strangely beautiful acts like The Cocteau Twins, Galaxy 500 and Ultra Vivid Scene.

The big tracks were singles 'Gepetto' and the singalong indie hit 'Feed The Tree' which reached the heady heights of number 40 in the UK singles chart. Also worth checking out are 'Dusted' and 'Angel both harder and more frantic than the bigger singles. All four tracks and resolutely old school indie pop and though hardly works of a classic band still hold a nostalgic charm that makes you yearn for the good ol’ days of 90’s schmindie. 

The two singles are the most upbeat songs on the album. Many of the other tracks have a swoon-some melancholic edge, in particular the 'Don't You Have Someone To Die For' and ‘Untogether’. Despite Donnelly’s high-pitched breathy vocals, much of the album has a slower, more distressed sound.

Their second album, King, had a heavier edge but lost the charm that made Star a hit and had helped it shift over a million copies worldwide. By the time the follow up was released in 1995 the world had moved on. Belly disbanded in 1996 but they left behind a sweet and strange little album of childish nightmares and fairy-tales gone wrong that is definitely worth rediscovering, if only for an hour or so of nostalgia.