DESIGNER MAGAZINE - June 2007

Carlis Star are one of the longest ever overnight success stories in Manchester right now. After spending years in home studios amassing a huge collection of songs they played their debut gig for Designer Magazine last November. Within weeks of their debut XFM Manchester booked them in for a session, NME were shouting their praises and a sell out show at the Manchester Academy saw bootleg t-shirts being sold outside the venue. Coming back to what they know best the Carlis Star that Designer Magazine have moved on light years from that debut gig and whereas that first gig was wall and wall of spectacular white noise with melodies peeping through, now they've honed in their sound to something which takes in the pure-pop of Ash as well as the soundscapes of Sonic Youth and Flaming Lips. In fact the shows that Carlis Star put on with a dazzling array of lights are probably not dissimilar to what Wayne Coyne would put on with a budget and all the band need is manatee puppets and some lesbian ham to throw out into the audience. With  "Hereby No one", "Weak Invincible" and "Too Damn Long" all segueing into each other its unclear which will make the first single choice, but knowing this band they'll probably f*ck off the idea of doing singles and release a 3D surround album complete with DVD instead. Carlis Star do things different than others and its what makes them special - how many other bands would be audacious enough to have intro and outro music so long that Matt Bellamy would think its a bit pompous?

Alex McCann