With Skyward, it’s not just an album made of ravishing bangers that we get to discover, but the whole universe of 0Stella, a talented and invested songwriter. Review.
SKYWARD – 0STELLA
Where her record Freefall described falling into the pit of addictions, Skyward is the translation of the battles to get out of there. The two of them, parts of a larger project to come in 2024, are completing and answering each other wonderfully.
On Skyward, 0Stella is not simply emancipated. 0Stella is conquering herself and knows herself better. Through this record, the Irish-Canadian artist seems free. We feel it in her vocals as much as in her chords. The writing of each riff, each note, and each word shows her climbing to the better days. Fighting To Get Along and Easy to Keep are two potential hits that send us on the verge of obsession on the first try. Slightly pop, resolutely rock’n’roll, it is impossible not to fall for them. Let Them Say and Leaving You, equally amazing, are playing with acoustics and electrics alike, getting calmer moments out to grip us with gritty and intoxicating choruses.
If her clear vocals can’t leave us indifferent, it’s actually the raging and wild side of 0Stella that works best for us. Both Hands has that, with a touch of blues in its bass. To complete this album, Old Boots Same Eyes fascinates with a mystical and folk atmosphere. But it’s Scátaí agus Blaithfholt nGael that pushes forward all the love and savoir-faire of the songwriter for traditional Irish folk. Sung in Irish, it is the translation of her track Red Skates, on Freefall. A language too often ignored in rock music, and currently in danger, it’s sublimed here through this track.
The zero in her name shows her commitment to the zero-waste lifestyle, 0Stella also shows it through her tour project. After over 7000 kilometres in North America, the artist has started to tour Europe by bike. Tent and guitar in carbon fibre with her, it’s in Nijlen, Belgium, that the Who Needs This Tour will end in December. Clearly dedicated to her craft as much as the planet, 0Stella certainly has more to come. And we will be here for it.
