Ears Wide Open: STAL

Kevin Bronson on November 27th, 2017

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STAL is the musical guise of newly L.A.-based Frenchman Pierre-Marie Maulini, who got his start in a post-rock band and eventually became a touring member of M83 on the latter’s “Saturdays = Youth” tour. He released his first music as STAL in 2011, leading up to the 2015 full-length “Young Hearts.” After moving to L.A., he teamed with producer Eric Palmquist on a batch of songs that will be released in 2018 as a self-titled EP.

Whether the exuberant first single “Fresh Blood” sounds fresh depends on how much pop music you consume — synths answer the chorus, STAL name-checks a slew of his pop-culture heroes, and the elastic bass line carries the song to its happy place. Vibe-wise, it’s not far from where “Saturdays = Youth” took us, and there are worse places to be.

||| Stream: “Fresh Blood”