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San Jose indie rock quartet Star 99 started off humbly with their debut EP, “My Year in Lists,” in 2021 to local fame. After playing dozens of small shows in the Bay Area and releasing a handful of singles and their debut album “Bitch Unlimited,” they stayed understated, with at most 10,000 streams on Spotify for each of their most popular songs. Until “Gaman.”
Preceded by lead singles “Kill” and “Pushing Daisies,” “Gaman” was released on March 7 to immediate waves. In two months, the singles accrued more streams alone than the entirety of “My Year in Lists” had in four years, pushing the band to their peak in monthly listeners of almost 25,000. Around the time of the album’s release, the band also announced a North American tour with 18 shows, many in cities they had never played before.
“Gaman” opens with “Kill,” a track that sounds like it could be the theme song of a modern teen sitcom. Vocalist Saoirse Alesandro’s voice holds the listener steady at the top of a hill until fuzzy guitar chords send them barreling down it on their metaphorical skateboard, careening past parked cars and barely dodging telephone poles.
A guitar solo flows from verse to verse like a bridge connecting them as crashing symbols and smooth drum fills keeps the listener on their toes and banging their head. The lyricism is summery and morbid, somehow feeling nostalgic and foreign at the same time (“Sun’s out, campus is locked / We’re like cicadas, our skin peeling off / All starved and screeching”).
A few songs later comes “Gray Wall,” acting as an interlude between the first and second halves of the album. It’s notable for its old-school hip-hop beat, distinct from the DIY punk energy of most other Star 99 songs. A muffled, lo-fi effect is added to Alesandro and fellow vocalist Thomas Calvo’s voices, a soft synthesizer making the listener feel like they’re floating between planets.
Alesandro sounds almost like a whinier, edgier Kimya Dawson; the way her voice layers with Calvo’s echoes other male-female vocalist duos, such as folk-rock band The Weepies, or one of Star 99’s inspirations, the early works of Los Campesinos!. Calvo’s voice has noticeably improved since “My Year in Lists” and his presence in a greater volume of songs on the album is welcome.
Soon after is “Pushing Daisies,” starting with a shredding, searing riff that leads into Calvo crooning about a past lover who won’t pick up the phone. “If calling back is too hard / Then I won’t tell you,” he sings, before being launched into a guitar solo so rad that it feels like the melody is about to be set on fire.
The title track “Gaman” wraps up the album with a somber, acoustic guitar. “Gaman” is a Japanese word that roughly translates to the Zen Buddhist concept of staying strong despite the obstacles that cross one’s path. This is an album about growing up and out of your hometown, leaving behind the past relics of high school lovers and the classmates you hated (“You’ll marry some local and grow your hair long / You’re a hometown beauty now that everyone’s gone”).
While being a fan of Star 99 since freshman year, it feels like I’ve been growing up alongside them. As I prepare for college and the inevitability of leaving my own hometown, I can only hope that I keep “Gaman” in mind and face the future with patience and perseverance.
