This came out in 2004 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Most bands would kill to come up with a new way to hype their sophomore album. Mopey Britpoppers Starsailor didn’t have to go quite that far; they just hired Phil Spector instead.
The eccentric musical genius — currently charged with the shooting death of an actress in the foyer of his Los Angeles mansion last year — produced two cuts on Silence Is Easy, which oughta sell at least a few copies to the morbidly curious. And they’ll get their money’s worth: Spector builds his typically impressive Wall of Sound to bolster the mid-tempo piano-pumper title cut, and surrounds the mournful Going to California-style ballad White Dove with feathery strings and gliding orchestration. What may be even more impressive, though, is that Spector’s cuts may not even be the high points of the disc. In terms of production and melodic richness, they certainly face stiff competition from cuts like the vibrant and choppy Music Was Saved, the lulling melancholy of Shark Food, the sophisticated orch-pop of Bring My Love and the soul-tinged Four To The Floor. So even without Spector’s sensational presence, Silence is often pretty close to golden.
