Under Starcleaner Reunion’s Umbrella, A Lifetime Of Music Geek Camaraderie

When they popped up a few years back with a pair of accomplished EPs, Starcleaner Reunion were an alluring, disorienting proposition. The band name alone raised questions: Reunion, you say? What exactly is a starcleaner? The surreal cartoons that graced their records gave the band a distinctive visual language. And then there was the music itself, startlingly sophisticated post-Stereolab Euro chic somehow emerging from suburban New Jersey. It was as though this band was dislodged from time and space, and we were getting to listen in on their hi-fi transmissions from just slightly outside our common reality.But Starcleaner Reunion aren't aliens or time travelers. They're longtime friends who spent their adolescence bonding over music, trading records and forming bands in various configurations. In 2022, those years of camaraderie finally led to the alignment of vocalist and tambourine player Jo Roman, bassist Adam Kenter, and guitarists Pat Drummond and Neil Torman, this band's core foursome. Now based in NYC, the old pals have spent the two years since their breakout Café Life EP crafting a masterful debut album.Umbrella, out today, is an eclectic joyride through the late 20th cent...