HANGING STARS - Just A Day

Long in love with cosmic country, the Byrds, psychedelic folk and jangle-pop, London's Hanging Stars have cemented their approach by making Scotland their creative home. For some time now the band has been recording at Edwyn Collins's studio, tucked away in the Scottish Highlands.
For this new album, alongside longtime producer Sean Read (Dexys), they enlisted the help of Gerard Love (Teenage Fanclub). A restyling that has trimmed the lineup down to a leaner, more straightforward quartet. Having set aside pedal steel and flutes for a more spontaneous, flowing sound, the Hanging Stars now train their focus on vocal harmonies and the ever-noble tones of the Rickenbacker, for an album that marks a partial return to their roots.

"Just A Day" is a record that, rather than chase the recent West Coast leanings still palpable in the vibrant, intricate "Think I'll Be Alright", favours country-pop frivolities like the sparkling "Show Me The Way", a track that wraps Flying Burrito Brothers-style harmonies around a bassline lifted from Electric Light Orchestra's "Don't Bring Me Down". Crystalline layers of guitar and admirable vocal harmonies remain central to the English band's sound, ranging from more overt homages to the Byrds ("Time Is Nothing") to a pure distillation of cosmic-country harmony that Stone Roses fans will love ("Sister Of The Sun").

The looser, more fluid style of "Just A Day" makes room for pop ambitions redolent of the late '60s ("(Keep On) Making Me Wait") and for folk-psych ballads of rare beauty ("My Lucky Charm"), in a web of references that underlines the British band's choice to prioritise the substance of its songs: riffs and harmonic scales take precedence over aesthetics and over the otherwise fine arrangements, chasing that magic which surfaces repeatedly throughout the album (the title track, "Let It Slide") and reaches its ultimate quintessence in the Big Star-style gem "The Glasshouse".

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

26/06/2026