Rock/Pop - In 2006, Portland, Oregon trio Stars of Track and Field delivered one of the year's finest and most auspicious debuts - Centuries Before Love and War - an album that was as grandly ambitious as its title. Like many modern bands, SOTAF proved that they don't have to play solely within one defined genre but prefer to draw upon a diverse palette of influences: the ambitious atmospheric scope of the more mainstream Pink Floyd epics, the more contemporary electronic edge of Aphex Twin, the straightforward melodic pop of The Beatles and, when the mood struck, the classic guitar riffs of radio-friendly 90's rock tempered with some dark Radiohead-styled strokes. The result was a sprawling but coherent collection of big ideas matched with solid writing chops and arena-friendly production.

If the new single "Racing Lights" is any indicator, the Stars' new September 15 sophomore album A Time For Lions (Wind-Up) is a more focused, succinct successor to Centuries' lofty prog production. But what it might lack in distinctive style - this could be any number of pop/rock outfits at work here - the new track still packs a potent three-minute wallop of gargantuan hooks, beeping electronic undertow and bright, encore-ready impact. After multiple, seemingly endless recording - and rerecording - sessions on both coasts, frontman Kevin Callaba says the process "has been a whirlwind of fun, work, new sights, late nights, and different musical directions. The band has grown outwards, inwards, and continues to do both."

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Stars of Track and Field - "Centuries" video (from the album Centuries Before Love and War)