It’s another concept album, kids!
And it’s a pretty great concept, not gonna NGL. A “Lesbian Ziggy Stardust”, as Lava themselves has christened it. ‘Starface’ is the name of a genderfluid alien who crash lands on Earth, puts their best human skin on, discovers that we humans are into some freaky-deaky shit, there’s some big battle which isn’t fully explained, Starface then falls in love in a brave show of support for inter-species relations (would have preferred it if they started fucking a walrus or something, but a human is alright, I guess), is dismayed by the fact that some people are on drugs, and ends the tale by (spoiler) debating whether they should return to their planet.
Lava Lava ruffle feathers when I walk in the room
‘Cause they wanna call you crazy when you speakin’ the truth
Star vision, shape shiftin’, can’t define how I do
Finna gravitate to greatness, I’m a child of the Moon
Still I keep rising
In peak timing
Don’t you be undermining my style for calculated silence
It’s ironic little sonics make the big dividin’
Bang Bang goes an ideology rising, uh
And the concept is pretty solid. Even if there are things like that apparent war that I mentioned that aren’t really elaborated on. Is it a war on Earth? Who is it with, exactly? It all seems to happen very quickly. Starface seems to get their supporters and win the war relatively early on, with the narrative then changing to Starface dealing with their affections for an unnamed girlfriend My girlfriend who “has a boyfriend/He hasn’t met me yet” (“Don’t know if he knows I exist/It might make him upset”). But I quite like that: the idea that this cosmic interstellar battle is just a backdrop to the real story: cheating on your boyfriend with a genderfluid alien. If you can’t relate then, bro, do you even exist in 2024??
The concept is only occasionally flimsy: “See the kid over there?/Used to be in my class back in ‘012”? In whose class?? In Starface’s?? They were in the same Intergalactic Federation School in 2012?? Why would they even date their years counting from Jesus Christ’s birth?? Or am I misunderstanding that ‘012’?? I’m assuming 2012 because of my unchecked Earth privilege, but what if their people started counting at 000 twelve years ago?? And how long is a year on their planet?? Neptune takes 165 Earth years to orbit the son, so maybe Starface’s planet takes, like, a million Earth years to orbit their sun?? Maybe they’re orbiting WR104, which scientists say is just about to go supernova and explode in only [CHECKS NOTES] eight thousand years. Maybe that’s why they came to Earth? About to go supernova in Eight thousand Earth years, sorry, my inherent Earth Supremacy is showing. It’s not my fault, I’ve been brought up surrounded by such assumptions. Maybe Starface’s people don’t even mark time by circling the sun?? Maybe they count, like ice ages or some shit?? Maybe their planet/universe had marked 012 ice ages when Starface met that kid in their class. That person who… later got addicted to cocaine? Wait, what? Hold on a second…
So is there cocaine on Starface’s planet?? Firstly, that’s some crazy convergent evolution. I guess the coca bush could in theory grow on their planet as well, and perhaps with lyrics like that Lava is suggesting that all animals will eventually work out how best to get high off every plant they find. It also makes sense that Starface’s planet is of a similar atmosphere to Earth – otherwise how would they be able to breathe and fuck on this planet? You can’t just fuck lifeforms on any planet you please unless your inner workings suit the atmosphere. The splooge would just fly all over the place and shit! Read a fucking book sometime, I beg of you – and perhaps the entire atmosphere is similar to Earth’s South America, so there’s just coca bush/cocaine everywhere. Another good reason for leaving, as I can imagine that can get a bit exhausting. But on FLUORESCENT/Beyond Space Starface says they’re a “Child of the moon”. The moon, like our moon?? No, sorry, when I say our moon it’s just because you used the definite article and… Like you didn’t just say a moon, so… No, I guess that any planet’s moon is also the moon from their perspective, and your perspective is absolutely valid, and… Is it hot in here? I’m starting to feel hot…
But all this story comes from a song with the chorus “So many humans/And where’s the humanity?”, so we’re definitely talking about Earth here, and let’s charitably assume that the chorus is from the perspective of the human lover who’s explaining to Starface that Earth ain’t all that hot. Because… people are on drugs…? Starface, take my advice, please get your information about Earth from more sources than this one apparently pretty basic source. Do your own research, yeah? Look at the exploitative nature of capitalism and the reasons behind the illegality of drugs often being responsible for some of the more destructive elements of drugs and the drug trade. Yes, the drug trade, quite a nasty business. Did your inter-species lover not mention that?? No?? Then what did they talk about??
“Was it anyone’s fault?”
Yeah you could blame her teachers
“Was it anyone’s fault?”
Yeah, you could blame her daddy
“Was it anyone’s fault?”
But she can’t hear you preaching
“Can we get her restored?”
Honey, this world is madness
Hmm. I’m just saying, Starface, that Earth’s issues request far more interrogation than ‘it’s all the teacher’s/father’s fault’. Oh, and should I be calling you ‘Starface’? It sounds like a slur…
Lyrically, ‘Starface’ is occasionally a little like Sign ‘O’ the Times (song), in that the oversimplification of issues can bog it down and make the eyes roll.
Musically, however, ‘Starface’ is often a lot like ‘Sign ‘O’ the Times’ (album), in that it’s an incredibly and admirably ambitious piece of work that manages to play in a number of genres and is an absolute fucking blast.
Yeah, it’s bloated and overlong*, but that’s just the consequence of being as much of an incredibly creative artist as Lava and wanting to exhibit as many aspects of your juices as possible on your full debut. Lava is an almost overwhelmingly creative person, and the breadth of influences and ideas on their debut album proper is absolutely breathtaking. Yes, ‘Starface’ can be a little messy and musically unfocused at times, and the sheer ambition of attempting to hit as many touch points as possible artistically can mean it lacks true cohesion and its musical philosophy is a bit all over the place, but as a debut album it’s thrillingly off the book.
(*unlike ‘Sign ‘O’ the Times’… Alright, we don’t need the eight minute live performance of It’s Gonna Be a Beautiful Nite. And I don’t love Play in the Sunshine, I guess… See you in 2026, ‘SOTT’!)
You don’t know if you’ll ever get the chance to properly record a second album, so it’s understandable that Lava wanted as much as humanly possible poured into this record. In the future, they’ll become more clinical with the editing, more confident in the vision they’re presenting, and create some absolutely defining music with this boundless creativity of theirs. For now, ‘Starface’ is an absolute blast of ingenuity, and the potential is boundless.
Album Title as AI Image
Yeah, pretty sure Lava was wearing that makeup when I saw them live.
Necessary Evil 
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