the thing is that from here up to the top first, any ablum could have ended up in any ranking position . all of them are my favorite ones and i am emotionally connected with them. north is the debut album of darkstar and altough they are a group with a winning formula, they decided to break the mold in search of something more. and it succeeds, as all the expectations were met.. likely named on a rainier, darker day in northern england, focuses less on the rhythmic aspects of darkstar's sound, and more on the coarse synthesizers laid over its beats. distorted vocals and thick globs of synth make up the basis, with the contribution of dropout and glitches, pianos, strings, bass & guitar. and the most important element is the addition of vocalist James Buttery that adds another dimension to the group's dynamic, both sonically and lyrically. north may be gray, but it's an intense and gorgeous shade.