Big Stir Records is thrilled to announce the upcoming release of STARS, a career-encompassing yet completely new collection from acclaimed San Francisco Bay Area indie rockers THE MORNING LINE. A dazzling 21-track bonanza featuring the hit indie singles “90s Pickup,” “This Lens” and “Anhedonia” plus completely remixed versions of the band's personal picks from a back catalog spanning over 20 years, STARS sees release on CD and Streaming worldwide on September 18 and is for pre-order/pre-save now:

https://orcd.co/tml-stars

THE MORNING LINE is new to the Big Stir Records roster, but they're longtime friends whose sound – a bracing blend of '80s college rock, postpunk, and jangle pop shot through with '90s alt-rock drive and strains of No Depression-style Americana – gels beautifully with the label's vision of indie pop’s big tent, and draws from influences all over rock’s map. They are in many ways a quintessentially Northern California concern, but their story starts back east with frontman STEPHEN SMITH's Boston roots in fondly remembered indie outfits Salem 66, God’s Eye, and Green Magnet School, recording for labels like Sub Pop, Homestead, and Domino and sharing stages with Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Lemonheads, Dinosaur Jr. and innumerable others. THE MORNING LINE, however, is a band born of the Bay Area: guitarist BRIAN MELLO has played with just about everyone in San Francisco, most notably in his band The Bellyachers; drummer PETER CRAFT and bassist DAVID KNUPP have similarly been found in most of the venues and many of the bands in the SF Area. Peter is also an important local recording engineer and studio impresario, and his studio, Boxer Lodge, where all these songs were recorded, is part of the lifeblood of the Bay Area's pop, roots and country music communities.

Together as THE MORNING LINE, they've been at it for over two decades and a string of albums and EPs that have consistently garnered lavish praise from the global indie rock and pop press. Reviewers have made frequent comparisons to Matthew Sweet, R.E.M., Velvet Crush, Elvis Costello, Neil Young, Teenage Fanclub and Orange Peels. Pop Culture press hailed the “glorious guitars, uniformly thoughtful catchy songs (and) gauzy, disillusioned guitar pop on their stellar CD debut” STAY MY SATELLITE (2007), Power Pop News lauded 2017's SMOKE for its “classic power pop, chock full of jangle and hooks”, and Real Gone simply called 2019's NORTH “an instant classic.” Across the catalog, it's been Smith's literate but emotive lyricism and striking vocals (evocative of McGuinn, Costello, Stipe, Tweedy and Grant Hart) that pull THE MORNING LINE's sonic excursions together and provide the band's unmistakable identity.

And that brings us to STARS, an album of new & collected material, with two new songs, a demo dating all the way back to 2004, and a selection of the band’s best work from the years in between. The songs have all been remixed, bringing out their best features more clearly than ever. It is a summing up of the band’s accomplishments to date, but the fresh spin that the band's collaborative remixing has put on the tunes, coupled a track sequence that obeys vibes over chronology, make it a completely new experience that goes far beyond a perfunctory “greatest hits” package. From the propulsive three-chord rock of “Nostradamus,” and the punch of songs like “1982” and preview single “Anhedonia (Start Again)” to the slow burn of songs like the soon-to-be second single “Spellbound,” “Antennas” and “Tripwire,” the album covers a lot of terrain, emphasizing guitars and impassioned singing. Acoustic laments like “Down the Aisle” and stately classicist jangle pop confections like “All Mine” and “Stars To Me” offer a change of pace. The ever-shifting guitar textures are endlessly engrossing, and a delightfully disarming turn of phrase from Smith is always right around the corner, making the double-LP length of the album breeze by and instantly inviting another spin to see just what more can be discovered.

Taken together, what might be most striking about THE MORNING LINE's songbook is the restless sense of travel, motion, and reinvention that sits at the core of so much of the material. From the chorus and parenthetical subtitle of the opening “Anhedonia (Start Again)” and the literal yearning to escape in any available vehicle that frames “90s Pickup” to the place names that dot so many of the tunes (“Staten Island,” “Los Angeles,” “Grand Ave.” and even “Back On Earth”), there's a palpable sense that sitting still just won't do for this band. That's mirrored in the pulse, drive, and occasional shuffle of the music, and it's a beautiful thing to behold. While STARS is a thrilling map of one band's journey thus far, it leaves the listener with the sense of joining a quest that's far from complete, and the feeling that the destination will never be the point. While THE MORNING LINE doesn't forget the Nineties, it knows that life - and music – goes on. STARS, like the night sky itself, would be almost dauntingly vast in scope if not for the focus provided by the points of light that are its individual songs, and beauty of the tapestry as a whole. Join THE MORNING LINE in what is, thankfully, an open-ended exploration of the possibilities.

Expected release: September 18, 2026