Cobalt Starstrong and the Clashing Greens is one of the silliest, most ridiculous things I’ve ever made, and I love it so, so much.
It’s pure, unadulterated joy in the form of retro space opera doo-wop — imagine an early Beach Boys album in space.
“Clashing Greens” is a song about a clueless spaceman being confused by two warring factions of green aliens — the plants and the lizards — and it makes me think a little of Snoopy vs. the Red Baron. Just sheer 60s novelty-song fun… but this time sci-fi flavor.
There are land horses and sea horses, so I thought, why not SPACE horses????
And of course, if Cobalt Starstrong the singing spaceman ran across them, he’d chase after them and sing a song about it while doing so.
Since Cobalt Starstrong is essentially my take on what a space opera Beach Boys would sound like… he’s gotta have a song about a world entirely covered in water and how that means the whole world is basically just “One Big Endless Wave.”
Cobalt Starstrong lives a very serious life full of very high stakes problems. Like, for instance, in this song his spaceship is growing “Flowers in the Engine.” Oh no!
“Sunbathing with Strangers” is about sunbathing beside a lizard alien and a plant alien, basking in the sunlight and sharing the quiet camaraderie. The vocals turned out so pretty… real “The Girls on the Beach” by The Beach Boys vibe.
“And the sun doesn’t pick a side.”
The space opera version of a car song is a spaceship song, but in the case of “My Buddy’s New Ride,” Cobalt Starstrong is puzzling over his buddy’s new ride, because it’s not just a normal spaceship… it’s alive!
Since the theme of this album is plant aliens vs. reptile aliens, it needed to have a song where Cobalt Starstrong — an inveterate space-racer — is faced with a plant-alien girl who’s never gone anywhere at all because she’s literally “Rooted.”
“The Junkyard Band” is a sort of a sequel song to “The Laughing Robot and His Dog.” It’s a fun, cheerful piece with satisfyingly deep, booming background vocals.
“When the Sun’s Out” is about Cobalt Starstrong visiting a lizard-alien every time he’s on her world. It has some of the breezy heart of the Monkees’ “What am I Doing Hangin’ Round?” and Sinatra’s “South of the Border,” except giving the girl more agency.
I loved in Star Wars VII when Rey said, “I didn’t know there was this much green in the whole galaxy.”
“Green is Green” is an ode to green.
“Algae pack and lizard back
And copper patina shine
…
The forest and the bottle glass
The hull gone old with time.”
“Pictures in Clouds” was inspired by Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.”
I figured for Cobalt Starstrong, looking at clouds from both sides could be both metaphorical and literal — looking up as a kid, flying through them, and then looking down from orbit.