James Acaster’s Experimental Endeavor, Nearly Twenty Years in the Making
Written by Laurette McNabb
British comedian James Acaster is having his moment in the spotlight due to his casting in the latest season of The Celebrity Traitors UK. His performance in the game show has sparked both a swell of thirsty TikTok edits and an influx of hateful comments about his controversial self-banishment in the penultimate episode. In the midst of all of this, he has turned his focus towards promoting the new album Stand in the Star. A Verse and a Chorus by his old band from before he switched from music to comedy, The Wow! Scenario.
Formed in 2004, The Wow! Scenario consists of members Acaster, who plays drums/other percussion, and guitarist Graeme Wicks. Their debut and decidedly final album was originally recorded in 2007 in a studio in Hawley with producer Chris Hamilton. Acaster and Wicks slept on the studio floor for a month while recording, venturing to Gatwick Airport a few times for field recordings. After Hamilton delivered the final product in January 2008, the band decided not to release it because they were unhappy with the vocals. In 2017, they gave it another go with the intention of turning it into an instrumental album. They invited Hamilton back in the studio with musicians Mark Brown, Guy Fletcher, and Abi Wade to record saxophone, clarinet, violin, and cello parts in place of the original vocals. But they still weren’t satisfied, and the project lay dormant until 2023. This time around, they brought BC Camplight and Emma Daman in to sing the original vocal parts. The finished project was finally released on 23 October 2026.
Ironically, considering its title, Stand in the Star. A Verse and a Chorus contains hardly any structured sections that could be called verses or choruses. The album plays out like a mosaic of different styles, linked together to form a cohesive piece of work with its own distinct sound. The band’s jazz influences shine through in Acaster’s delightfully off-grid drumming, incorporating polyrhythms and odd time-signatures. The Beach Boys were named as a major inspiration, clearly heard in the layered vocal harmonies, surfy guitar lines, and bright melodies. Camplight and Daman’s twee duet vocals, along with the quirky lyrics, recall indie pop acts like Los Campesinos! and The Vaselines. The field recordings from Gatwick Airport in 2007 are woven throughout the tracklist, emphasizing the recurring theme of travel in the lyrics.
Opener ‘Diving!’ kicks off the album on a psychedelic note with an ascending guitar riff in waltz time before finishing with an indulgent drum fill. The first half of track ‘Golf Socks!’ sets up a soft, Vampire Weekend-esque vibe featuring muted percussion and fingersnaps, while the second half builds a densely layered instrumental under a repetitive vocal refrain. Drowsy vocals reminiscent of Sufjan Stevens, twinkling spoons, and pulsing piano chords comprise the atmosphere in ‘Reality!,’ whose lyrics depict a young couple walking around an airport, exploring the transitional aspect of traveling and comparing it to a dream. Swinging lead single ‘Zacuti!’ has the most pop sensibility of the lot, drawing heavily on The Beach Boys in the vocals. The album closes with ‘The Curse,’ a hypnotic and melancholic 9-minute instrumental that was recorded in one take, where Acaster plays piano, shaker and synth pedals simultaneously. Other standout moments throughout the record include the broken snake charmer flute that sounds more like a kazoo in ‘Once More!’; the Talulah Gosh-style vocals from Daman in the second half of ‘Alpaca Spinner!’; and the stunning lyric ‘Gentle hands pushed me into another new year’ on ‘Instructions!.’
On the whole, though clumsy in a few places, Stand in the Star. A Verse and A Chorus offers a vast territory of unconventional songwriting for the listener to explore. The Wow! Scenario’s sound may be too niche and eclectic for your average pop music fan, but if you can accept the wackiness, unpredictability, and purposeful imperfections, this record is quite fun. One must salute James Acaster for using his clout as a comedian to put his audience on to some weird, slightly enigmatic music to which they wouldn’t otherwise listen.
