After a short stint in New York, the four musicians moved to Montreal and began to work on the second full-length album, Heart.

While on their first North American tour together, Stars and Broken Social Scene shared and swapped members on a nightly basis.

The record received good reviews, and, along with the band's live performances, established them on the national indie rock scene in Canada.

Their single "Celebration Guns" is the title song for the television series ZOS: Zone of Separation and was provided for free as part of a collaboration with Moms Against Climate Change.

Stars have covered The Smiths' "Asleep" for American Laundromat Records' charity CD "Sing Me To Sleep - Indie Lullabies".

It was promoted by offering a free download of the first single "The Theory of Relativity" in exchange for signing up for the band's official e-mail list.

[12] Stars released their eighth album, There Is No Love in Fluorescent Light, produced by Peter Katis, on October 13, 2017, on Last Gang Records worldwide.

[13] Stars' music has been described as "beautiful, eloquent indie pop",[14] characterized by lush instrumentation, nimble production and mixing, narrative lyrics, and soft but nuanced vocals.

The band's style has evolved from an electronic-pop sound as heard on Nightsongs (released on Le Grand Magistery record label) to more rock-based instrumentation on their following three full-length albums, reflecting the permanent additions of singer-guitarist Amy Millan and bassist Evan Cranley on Heart (released on Paper Bag Records), and eventually drummer Patrick McGee on Set Yourself on Fire.