Ron Gallo’s last album, Heavy Meta, was one of the best under-the-radar records of 2017, a scabrous garage rock squall about human foibles, made, he now reveals, while he was “asleep” and in a relationship with a heroin user. Some of that record’s furious verve lives on in tracks such as Party Tumor and Always Elsewhere, a punky rama-lama about, of all things, mindfulness.
This wild-haired extrovert has been on a vertiginous inner learning curve, in part at a silent meditation retreat. Stardust Birthday Party brings the fruits of meditation to Nashville-based Gallo’s jams – a little like Bodhisattva Vow marked the influx of MCA’s Buddhism into the Beastie Boys. The David Bowie-referencing Do You Love Your Company? addresses our inner anxious static; there is literally an “Om” session midway through the record, with sirens in the background and the voice of Gallo’s unquiet mind leaving a voicemail message.
Mostly, Gallo’s philosophical conversion convinces: “It’s not all darkness and pain,” he sings. Musically, however, it’s a harder sell. Proggy, jerky new wave replaces Heavy Meta’s punk and garage a little too often here, with the Devo-ish The Password just one offender.
