Album Notes

Blue Star Creeper is a band from McMinnville, Oregon. Everything is as it should be with these guys. There are two guitars, a bass, some drums and a voice or two making pretty noises nearly every moment, and that's important, of course.

WILLAMETTE WEEK's John Graham calls Blue Star Creeper's new CD, IF NOTHING ELSE SHIMMERS:

"slow, meticulous and glowing pop. Guitars seem painted into the verses like gleaming varnish, with a few ripples of distortion preventing the surface from becoming too mirror-smooth, while the vocals gradually crest and fall as if following the grain of polished wood. The quartet's new album, If Nothing Else Shimmers, doesn't feature much in the way of bluster. Instead, Blue Star Creeper sweeps through the air in graceful arcs, seemingly more interested in the action of travel itself than any final destination."

THE OREGONIAN says that the band's "promising debut" is filled with:

"that dependable indie-rock recipe of sensitive young laddish emoting (courtesy of singer-guitarist Brian Maselli) and slightly folky twin-guitar weaving that turns snarly on the choruses."

THE PORTLAND MERCURY's Marjorie Skinnner calls the release "melodious" and "jangly, with very polished vocals." About catching the band live, Skinner says "Get ready for a night of professional musicianship."

In fact, MERCURY arts editor, Julianne Shepherd, adds that Maselli:

"can actually sing, which, these days, seems like a yard of gold among a vast expanse of charred and molten earth."

The CD contains eleven songs of hook-laden rock. Whether it is the sparse, haunting slide guitar in "Miles of Sleep," the sonic sucker punch of "She Doesn't Take You Through," the driving, infectious rock of "The Government of Love" or the syrup-sweet pop hooks of "Quickening," IF NOTHING ELSE SHIMMERS offers everything a music lover could want in an album.

Blue Star Creeper is:

--Justin Allen-guitar and occasional singing; given to rock excesses but in an indie rock kind of a way

--Levon Veils-bass, shouts, and fetching good looks; rumored to be Robert Smith's illegitimate son

--Brian Maselli-guitar and frequent vocalizations; the very model of a modern major general

--Paul Wolff-drums and backup style hoots and anthems; he's got the beat,he's got the beat, he's got the beat, yeah, he's got the beat