MPLS Sound

This upbeat music drama pays tribute to Prince and the stable of artists he nurtured, while side-eyeing the fealty he demanded from his protégés. In 1980s Minneapolis, Starchild, a psychedelic funk group loosely based on the Revolution, makes its way up through the local music scene, led by the idealistic and driven Theresa. Soon Theresa is granted an audience with the Purple One himself and gifted with a purple cassette tape, her band’s ticket to the big time. Amid increasing public attention, tension between band members, and sabotage from rival bands, Starchild must decide whether to “shed the old skins” in accordance with Prince’s glam vision or strike out as an independent group. The mostly workmanlike art by Laxton comes alive during the performance scenes, which express the feeling of the sound, time, and place with trippy visual effects and imaginative page layouts. Theresa’s personality and backstory are well-developed, though some of the other members of her Chumbawamba-size band are barely sketched in. This tribute conjures the Twin Cities’ vibrant, multicultural, thoroughly Midwestern rock scene, appealing to nostalgic—and newer—fans of the musical period. (Apr.)