In case you couldn’t tell by now, you guys, I’m making a very deliberate effort to mix things up a certain extra amount ever since my entreaty that we all get more diverse in the idol that we follow. The next exhibit? Motherhubbard STARMARIE, that’s who. Yes, the longtime fantasy-aligned rock idols have themselves a new album coming out next month, and they teased out the first track the other day:

In the event that you saw my accidentally published screed on Sunday morning, you may be aware that I’ve grown weary (and wary) of the over-prescription of the notion that idols who, for instance, sing songs about black magic and the occult and whatnot nonetheless being any particular kind of alternative to anything. Yes, that post is still on the way when I’m better able to organize it, but here’s STARMARIE being a classic example of how idol, being the astonishing mishmash of style and trope that it is, can accommodate sounds and images and attitudes in a way that ultimately makes it not much different than just about any other kind of performance. I mean, take a stroll through the group’s Twitter feed and let me know how not-normal-idol you think they are.

But back to the album! I’m stoked for it, as this might be the most I’ve enjoyed a single song of theirs since “Spell of the Book”. I hope that they keep putting out at least lyric videos and live snips from it, because doing STARMARIE on Fridays was something that I always enjoyed, and it might guide some folks along that dark path. Gods be good, they’ll even come back to the States for something other than a con.