(Left to right) Amy Millan, Evan Cranley, Torquil Campbell, Pat McGee and Chris Seligman of Stars, who will play the Vogue March 27.

On its MySpace page, Stars describes itself as "melodramatic popular song" -- a cheeky acknowledgment that its music is unapologetically romantic, sincere and theatrical.

When the popular Web site Pitchfork criticized the Montreal-based quintet's latest album, "In Our Bedroom After the War," for its "inflated theatrical bent," Stars lead singer Torquil Cafmpbell responded in his blog: "Sorry about all that art we created. We realize now that to speak about life and love and death and sex and NOT stare up our own asses in a state of ironic detachment while doing it was wrong of us."

Campbell's riposte is emblematic of everything that makes Stars' music both terrific and, at times, hard to bear. Stars indulges in the kind of high drama that most modern North American indie rockers mechanically avoid, recalling the mannered, sentimental pop of '80s British sensations the Beautiful South.

While co-lead vocalists Campbell and Amy Millan command the band with their back-and-forth entreaties to love, fate and God, keyboardist Chris Seligman, who co-founded the band with Campbell, provides a steadying hand with stately, hypnotic synth lines.

In anticipation of Stars' March 27 concert at the Vogue, the soft-spoken Seligman talked to Indy.com recently about the group's slow-burn success and how intra-band struggles affected "In Our Bedroom After the War."

You guys had been together four years when you released "Set Yourself on Fire" in 2005. Did its success surprise you?

We knew that we were starting to build something. We stuck it out through some hard times, and it even took two or three years for "Set Yourself on Fire" to feel like, "Hey, we've done something here." We're just that kind of band; it's still happening that way for us. At this point, it's about getting more fans out and hitting people on a live level, because we have three or four records behind us. As an artist and musician, unless it happens really fast and you are on the cover of a big magazine, success is really kind of a subtle thing.

Do you think of Stars as an uncommonly dramatic live act?

We want to connect to the audience -- Torq is a dramatic person and he really wants to connect to the audience. We don't want to be boring. We want to entertain and make people feel something, whether it is through the lyrics or the music. We've been doing it for a long time.

Do you feel that's more challenging for a keyboardist than for a singer or a guitarist?

I think it's about knowing your role. As a keyboardist, there are parts where you are allowing the guitars' energy to come through; you're supporting it. What I love about that role is, I lead it musically. For every song, I am going to be there, giving it the particular melody and sound it needs at the given time. I like that role; I am at the central soul of the music, in a way.

What's the most dramatic difference between the new album and "Set Yourself on Fire?"

"Set Yourself on Fire" just kind of came to us. We got a good response to it, we toured on it and had some success. But ... there was some stuff happening that was tearing apart the band on a personal level. We stuck it out, but coming out of that experience we've had to redevelop relationships and become friends again. On the last record, we were just starting to become friends again. I am kind of looking forward to where the relationships are stable. and there is trust again. There is always going be some conflict, but I think the band has a chance to make a record on a purely musical level next time.