Wife of God

Formed in Brooklyn in the late 2000s, Starring offer a cerebral yet oddly playful brand of prog-driven psych on their debut full-length, Wife of God. The product of a mix of classically trained musicians and trench soldiers of Brooklyn's seemingly endless underground rock army, the band's sound is at once chaotic yet meticulously composed, frenetic yet propelled forward by a metronomic throb. While Starring are far removed from the arena excesses of a Yes or an Alan Parsons Project, it's hard not to hear a certain mid-'70s prog element in Mike Gallope's frantic keyboard squiggles, Amy Cimini's soaring viola lines, and the thoughtfully structured multi-voiced vocal chants that gild the band's sound. All that said, this is a unit coming from a much different place than the robed, Hobbit-loving types of yesteryear, having more in common with fellow Brooklynites Parts & Labor, Pterodactyl (with whom Starring shares drummer Matt Marlin), and, yes, Oneida — that being the notion that unusual and even complex theories about composition can be applied to rock structures, and vice versa, without restricting the emotional experience.