NYC rock band Quarters channel cinematic release and emotional reckoning on “STAR,” a cathartic confessional that marks a bold reintroduction – finding power not in softening the truth, but in saying it at full volume.

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Stream: “STAR” – Quarters

You loved me like a pornstar, then blamed it on your co-star…

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From its first surge of guitars and crashing drums, “STAR” feels like a release valve blown wide open – loud with feeling, heavy with want, and impossible to ignore.

It begins with momentum already in motion, smoldering instruments snapping into place like the start of something unavoidable, and from there it never lets up. Quarters’ latest release roars with a kind of widescreen urgency – cinematic, aching, and unapologetically bold – a song built to be felt in the chest, in the throat, in the bones. This is passion with teeth, and it demands your full attention.

Searching through the waves,
are they with you?
I can feel the sun
when it’s breathing down my neck
Everywhere I go, it’s an odd future
And you can be yourself, yourself

That intensity lives first and foremost in Ben Roter’s voice. He sings like he’s carrying the weight of every line as it leaves his body, pushing raw emotion through reverb-soaked chords and towering arrangements that feel both polished and feral. “Say what you want, say what you want right now, I’ve been alone, I’ve been alone right now,” he repeats, the words landing like a confrontation and a confession all at once. The band’s synced rhythm section drives everything forward with purpose, while the guitars swell and crash around him – a constant churn of feeling that never quite resolves, only deepens.

Say what you want,
say what you want right now
I’ve been alone,
I’ve been alone right now
I’m in the city,
and here’s what you wanted

You loved me like a pornstar
Then blamed it on your co-star
We’ve been stuck here for a long while
And I’ve made peace
with your cold heart, cold heart

For Quarters, that tension is the point. Recently reemerging under a streamlined moniker and entering a new creative chapter, the New York–based band – formerly known as Quarters of Change, and comprised of Benjamin Orlen Roter, Jasper Gee Harris, and Attila Lee Anather – are writing with renewed clarity and conviction.

“We’ve never identified with any one genre or niche,” Roter explains. “What’s been consistent over the years is a relentless focus on guitar-based music, live drums, and vocals. Whatever that produces is our ‘sound.’” That philosophy courses through “STAR,” which balances classic rock heft with a modern, emotionally charged sheen – expansive without losing its edge.

Released in mid-November, “STAR” arrives at a moment of reinvention for Quarters.

Much of their new material has been self-produced by guitarist Jasper Harris, signaling a deeper trust in their instincts and a tighter creative core. After years spent touring alongside acts like Two Door Cinema Club, Bad Suns, and the Jonas Brothers – and following a recent EU/UK run supporting The Band Camino – Quarters are now setting their sights firmly on what comes next, including a 2026 North American headline tour anchored by a two-night homecoming at Irving Plaza and a third record slated for spring 2026.

You’re searching for your friends,
are they with you?
Well, you can’t blame the moon
for causing all this mess
And you can have it all if you just picture
Somewhere to be yourself, yourself

Say what you want,
say what you want right now
I’ve been alone,
I’ve been alone right now
I’m in the city,
and here’s what you wanted

“STAR” arrives alongside “PLUMMET” as the first releases of this new era, and together they outline who Quarters are becoming. “These two songs started our album cycle well because they combine our traditional rock sound with something new,” Roter says. “We’re definitely experimenting, but our roots are also stronger than ever.” You can hear that push and pull throughout the track – the way its glossy exterior masks something darker underneath, the way its hooks pull you in even as the lyrics bristle with resentment and reckoning.

At the center of the song is a sharp, unsettling metaphor. “You loved me like a pornstar, then blamed it on your co-star,” Roter sings in the chorus, turning celebrity language into an indictment of emotional irresponsibility. For him, “STAR” is “an angry ode to people who turn natural relationships into transactional ones, and how that makes me feel gross.” He adds, “It’s about people who don’t take accountability for their actions, and blame their behavior on star signs.” That frustration bleeds into every line – the bitterness of “give me back my summer” echoing like a demand for stolen time, the repeated refrain of “cold heart” settling in with chilling finality.

You loved me like a pornstar
Then blamed it on your co-star
We’ve been stuck here for a long while
And I’ve made peace
with your cold heart, cold heart
‘Cause you played me like you made it
Just to turn around and fake it
Give me back my summer
I know you feel the same way
So blame it on your co-star
And hide me like an old scar

Musically, Quarters lean fully into the drama of it all.

The song’s reverb-heavy palette and layered guitars give it a sweeping, late-night scale, while its dynamics rise and fall like emotional aftershocks. There’s a softness to its atmosphere, but never a lack of force – the kind of track that swells higher with each pass, revealing new fractures and flashes of vulnerability beneath its surface-level shine. That duality is intentional. “I hope people hear the darker undertones, not just the surface-level shininess,” Roter says. “I hope it empowers people to break away from things that aren’t serving them and to find something better.”

What makes this song hit as hard as it does is its refusal to soften its message. “You played me like you made it, just to turn around and fake it,” Roter sings, his voice climbing higher as the track barrels forward. It’s confrontation without apology, catharsis without neat closure – a reminder that sometimes the most powerful thing a song can do is tell the truth at full volume.

With “STAR,” Quarters don’t just reintroduce themselves – they ignite. This song aches and explodes in equal measure, marrying scale and sincerity into something thrillingly alive. This is rock music that still believes in impact. Quarters recently sat down with Atwood Magazine to talk about the tension, reinvention, and hard truths behind “STAR,” what this new era has unlocked creatively, and why it finally feels like the right time to say exactly what they mean.

Read our interview below, and get lost in the thrill of “STAR” wherever you stream music.

You loved me like a pornstar
Then blamed it on your co-star
We’ve been stuck here for a long while
And I’ve made peace
with your cold heart, cold heart
‘Cause you played me like you made it
Just to turn around and fake it
Give me back my summer
I know you feel the same way
So blame it on your co-star
And hide me like an old scar

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:: stream/purchase STAR here ::

:: connect with Quarters here ::

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Stream: “STAR” – Quarters

A CONVERSATION WITH QUARTERS

Ben Roter: I want them to know we don’t like AI.

Ben Roter: We’ve never identified with any one genre or niche. What’s been consistent over the years is a relentless focus on guitar-based music, live drums, and vocals. Whatever that produces is our ‘sound.’

Ben Roter: These two songs started our album cycle well because they combine our traditional rock sound with something new. We’re definitely experimenting, but our roots are also stronger than ever.

Ben Roter: We wrote this song out in LA with a producer who is definitely known for this sound you mention. For me, the song is an angry ode to people who turn natural relationships into transactional ones, and how that makes me feel gross. It’s about people who don’t take accountability for their actions, and blame their behavior on star signs.

Ben Roter: Anger.

Ben Roter: Influences are different for everybody in the band, which is why it all sounds the way it does. For me, I’ve been listening to a lot of Beach House, Roy Orbison, Stevie, Hendrix…. not any one of them too intensely. I’ve been focusing on making my own music and not having it be too parallel to what came before. That was the goal, to stand on my own two musical feet.

Ben Roter: I hope it empowers people to break away from things that aren’t serving them and to find something better. I hope people hear the darker undertones, not just the surface-level shininess.

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:: stream/purchase STAR here ::

:: connect with Quarters here ::

— —

Stream: “STAR” – Quarters

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 © Theodore Sielatycki, Oliver J. Frisby

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