Stratosphere - Duster

 Stratosphere - Duster (1998)

Stratosphere by Duster, or: a lesson in analysis.

I remember fondly the time I visited Duster's Spotify page to discover, to my shock, that they had millions of monthly listeners (4.8 million as of writing this review). While in my mind, Duster was (and still is) a relatively obscure band, Tiktok had worked its algorithmic magic, and their song "Inside Out" had gone viral. Unlike your average male RYM-user, I'm not one to gatekeep; I was honestly glad Duster was receiving more attention and getting exposed to a new and wider audience. But the question I asked myself then is the question I ask myself now: of all 17 tracks off of Stratosphere, why "Inside Out"?

The reason this review includes "A lesson in analysis" in its title is because I believe that reviewing Stratosphere on a track-by-track basis misses the point and the feel of the album. Trust me, I've tried. When figuring out how much I like an album, a few things come into consideration: the pacing, the cohesion, whether or not I actually like the music, and how many songs I like off the album. That last category never really fit onto Stratosphere; try as I might, I can never remember the tracklist for this album, let alone the names of songs I like and will immediately recognize when played. Getting back to my question of "why 'Inside Out,'" very few of these songs stand out in their own right. "Echo, Bravo" remains my absolute favorite, "Reed to Hillsborough" and "Earth Moon Transit" are arguably the best tracks on the album, and "Gold Dust" has always held a soft spot in my heart. Aside from these tracks, the rest of the album melts together in this atmosphere of melancholy and disappointment. If it didn't blow up online, I don't think "Inside Out" would be a standout track. Using my metric of counting the songs I like falls flat insofar as I can't remember the names of the songs; how can I like it if I can't recall it?

There are other avenues I could take that are faulty for reviewing this album. The production is intentionally lo-fi, and that has its charm, but burying your vocals in the mix is almost universally regarded as a bad choice and a production mistake. The end result is that I know even fewer lyrics than I do song titles, because there's nothing I can do to hear the vocals over the guitars. Pacing is another issue. All these tracks are forgettable! More seriously, though, "Earth Moon Transit" sounds like the natural conclusion of the album, yet Duster somehow saw it fit to include two more tracks, the soul-crushing "The Twins / Romantica" and the 2-minute drone-ish track "Sideria" that sounds more like an interlude than a fitting close to the album. Why are they here? They just don't fit.

Despite these qualms and apparent shortcomings, this album has stuck with me since I first heard it about 3 years ago. A track-by-track analysis does not give the album credit for being an album: an experience from beginning to end. The tracks add up to create a depressive and regretful atmosphere that's greater than the sum of its parts. The vocals drowning in the mix mirrors the singer drowning in sorrow. The lo-fi production adds a warmth to the sound, offering some comfort in the throes of depression. Someone on RYM described the album with the words, "sad space cowboy," which may have been a Cowboy Bebop reference, but I prefer my mental image of a Midwest farmer who suddenly finds himself in the great expanse and nothing better to do than to think about than all the mistakes he made on earth. Like space, the album is lonely, expansive, and yet somehow comforting and familiar. Just like a single star cannot represent the universe, its size and majesty, so a single song cannot represent the experience you get from listening to Stratosphere. If "Inside Out" piqued your interest, I can't recommend this album enough. Maybe the reason this song caught on is because it's one of the few tracks that can stand on its own, but please don't let it be your only point of contact. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.