“夜幕苍穹下的音乐散文”
如果说首张专辑《与世界温暖相拥》是阳光下的浪漫诉说，那么《群星闪耀时》则展现出乐队的成长与探索，和心中挥之不去的忧郁情愫。毫无疑问，这是对茨威格传世经典《人类的群星闪耀时》的一次跨世纪致敬。《群星闪耀时》更像一部散文集，从不醉心于宏大叙事，用11首歌曲忠实记录了乐队近几年的生活片段和旅途所感。整张专辑一如既往地热衷于经典摇滚乐的粗硬线条，也有并行不悖的抒情线索。这像极了懵懂少年的心路历程——喧嚣过后，总有夜深人静时。
专辑开篇即是同名曲《群星闪耀时》，以忧伤的英伦摇滚作基底，缘起于多年老友离队所带来的巨大虚空与无奈。仰望满天星斗，人们却身处孤独之中，专辑如此展开了。
接下来的《东方明星》，一跃而起，是舞台上我们熟悉的那个狂放身影。其曲风明显受到美国南方摇滚的影响，以轰鸣的吉他 riff 宣告经典摇滚的回归。点睛之笔在结尾处那段激情澎湃的解说录音，道出了足球运动与乐队的不解之缘。
盘尼西林一方面保持了对根源音乐的热望，同时也坚持着歌曲的旋律性，这集中体现在首发的三首单曲《快！快！》、《瞬息间是夜晚》和《缅因路的月亮》中。原本不羁的失真吉他在此保持了足够克制，无论歌唱青春，还是描绘月夜，优美流畅的旋律线条始终占据着听者的耳朵。抒情过后，则是一首「非典型」的盘尼西林作品——《狂欢》。这首歌里，鼓和贝斯的轻快律动成为主角，他们继承80年代曼城Madchester前辈衣钵，给摇滚乐注入足够的跳舞性。
2019年春天的一次巴西之旅，让盘尼西林大开眼界，那里无处不在的文化冲撞和奇闻轶事，令他们创作出《圣保罗》这首专辑里最快的歌曲。我们再一次听到了60年代的英伦摇滚经典之声，由大音量的吉他声响勾勒出大千世界的狂乱种种。短暂欢愉过后，便是温凉的夜，伴着《夏夜迷语》那悠扬的民谣风情，手风琴把人带回到旧日的夏梦中，专辑的节奏也再一次舒缓了下来。我们听到了《她消失在黑夜里》这样鬼魅十足、叙事性很强的三段式作品，也有夜幕酒馆里的吉他小调《午夜情歌》，那是 Tom Waits、Leonard Cohen 这样有故事的老男人会唱的歌，真像一部黑白电影。
专辑最后，一首《梦在黎明破晓时》与《群星闪耀时》首尾呼应，由钢琴带领的抒情摇滚作为点题之笔，为专辑画上了圆满句号。
夏末秋初，盘尼西林再度与世界温暖相拥。所有的非议和追捧、相聚与别离，都让他们更加紧密、更明白自己想要的——一切尽在在音乐中。
Two years after the first album was released, Penicillin brought a new album of 2019, When the Stars Shine, through the growth and exploration of the band.
When the stars shine, like a collection of prose, never indulge in Grand narrative, faithfully records the band's life and journey in recent years with 11 songs. The album is as keen on the hard lines of classical rock music as ever, and has parallel Lyric clues. It's like ignoring the course of a teenager's mind. After the noise, there's always a quiet time in the middle of the night.
The album opens with the same title song "When the Stars Shine", based on sad British rock and roll, followed by "Oriental Star", announcing the return of classic rock and roll with the roaring guitar riff. The first three singles, Quick! Quick! 》 The melodic lines in "Instantaneous is Night" and "Moon on Maine Road" always occupy the listener's ears. After lyricism, a song "Carnival" injects enough dancing into rock music. Sao Paulo, the fastest song on this album, has made us hear again the classic voice of British rock and roll in the 1960s. The accordion in "Summer Night Myth" brings people back to their old summer dreams. We can hear such a ghostly and narrative three-stage work as "She Vanished in the Night" and the guitar minor "Midnight Love Song" in the night pub. At the end of the album, a song "Dream at Dawn" echoes the beginning and end of "When the Stars Shine." Lyric rock and roll led by the piano, as a point pen, completes the album satisfactorily.
In late summer and early autumn, penicillin embraced the world warmly again. All the criticism and pursuit, gathering and parting make them closer and more aware of what they want - everything in music.