“stars (not home)” seeps in through the walls, sits beside you quietly, and just is there. It’s not trying to be loud. It’s not asking anything of you. It’s simply reflecting the exact moment you realise you’re either too far gone or standing in front of someone who is.
Doter Sweetly, or Elijah Poston if you’re being formal (but why would you?), brings us this soft-focus swirl of bedroom pop and slowcore that’s as emotionally tuned as it is musically layered. There’s an 8-string hybrid guitar holding it all together, but it never flashes for attention. Instead, it gently tugs at you with that lovely melancholy you can’t quite place. It’s a bit like reading a poem out loud to an empty room—quietly powerful, slightly sad, weirdly beautiful.
Lyrically, “stars (not home)” pokes at a feeling we’ve all danced around—being physically present while mentally miles away. Or being the one waiting on the couch, watching someone drift out of the moment again. That sense of distance is wrapped in gauzy vocals and textures that feel as if they were recorded underwater, then air-dried in a sunlit apartment. Nothing is rushed. Everything has weight.
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And then there’s Doter Sweetly himself. This isn’t your average singer-songwriter trajectory. According to legend (and his own PR), he was birthed somewhere between a 19th-century financial collapse and the hallowed ground of a Bass Pro Shop. Add in a background of electropunk chaos with General Labor, and you’ve got an artist who’s clearly unafraid to blur every line he sees. The throughline in all of this is heart—whether it’s strung through a synth line or whispered under layers of guitar loops.
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