With their jangling, overdriven guitars and breathless, mysterious
vocals, Belly suggests the hard/soft edge of electric girl groups and power pop bands like The Bangles,
The Pixies, The Breeders and Throwing Muses (with a dark hint of early Lou Reed & The Velvet
Underground).
On Star they revel in eastern overtones, psychedelic musings
and a folk-rock-styled loss of innocence, even as they chart a more modern musical course with their
ambivalent love songs, pained recollections and distinctly dissonant style of lyricism. Echoes of childhood
remembrances and bad dreams pepper the soundscape on Star, such as the evocative overture
"Someone To Die For," and the menacing "Angel" and "Dusted" (where the crunching cathedral chords
suggest R.E.M). This hypnotic sense of rural dread, alienation and sublimated sensuality permeates every
second of Star, as Donelly's ruminations brush dangerously against the Gorman Brothers' jarring
rhythms, particularly on the anthemic "Feed The Tree."
