If some songs are built out of solidity and bombast, volume and impact, Some Stars, the lead single from Rob Giles’s fifth album, the soon-to-be-released Meditation Drive-Thru, is everything opposite of that. It shimmers rather than shouts, it uses melody rather than muscle, it gently grooves while it weaves graceful tones and textures together, and it is chiming and charming. In short, it is a triumph of the less over the more.
But beyond its tasteful demeanour, “Some Stars,” along with the album it calls home, signifies a triumphant return for Rob Giles to the musical arena. After a storied journey, marked by a string of albums and collaborations with luminaries from Andy Summers to Lisa Loeb, he vanished from the spotlight, hanging up his musical boots after a rapturous performance at LA’s famed Troubadour. Fearing irreparable damage to his vocal cords, he stepped away, never once seeking professional counsel or explaining his decision to walk away.
It was only at the earnest plea of a close friend, urging him to grace the world with another musical masterpiece, that Giles found himself drawn back into the fold. Three short months later, “Meditation Drive-Thru” and “Some Stars” emerged from the creative crucible, and Rob, it seems, has never sounded more resplendent.
“Some Stars” serves as a poignant meditation on humility, a poignant reminder that while some luminaries might deem themselves the center of the universe, the term “stars” here perhaps transcends its literal celestial connotations; it begs us to seek out brilliance and wonder in everything and everyone we encounter.
Far from being a mere taste to whet the appetite for a forthcoming album, “Some Stars” serves as a resonant testament to the cyclical nature of life, where chapters may open and close, and the story may evolve, but it never truly reaches its final chapter. There is always more to be written…in this case, quite literally.
[…] Some Stars, a recent single, is one of the high points, admittedly on an album comprised almost exclusively of high points. Again, an intimate and almost whispered lyric wanders over minimal yet rising music that evolves into tribal beat-driven shamanic, sonic meditations. […]