MANCHESTERMUSIC.CO.UK - June 2007

Carlis Star only played their first gig a few months back but it's clear from the crowd around the front that they're the big draw tonight and gathering new fans with every outing. This they achieve by way of an ability to tap into that perfect alternative pop gene passed down from the Beach Boys to Big Star to Teenage Fanclub to the Shins, dishing up radiant summer melodies powered by a mighty space-rock engine and topped with beautifully layered three-way vocals. There's no lead singer as such; every song is carried along on great waves of structured harmonies and delicious hooks. They manage to sound warmly familiar and refreshingly original all at the same time; complex in arrangements yet effortless in their execution; wilfully doing their own thing but with the potential for mass appeal. A nest of contradictions that all add up to a bloody good band.

Cath Aubergine