For a band most fans don't even realize is from Toronto, Stars have one heck of a homecoming planned.

"There's going to be a set, and we're gonna have treats, and there's gonna be choirs -- it's gonna be a real festive holiday atmosphere," Torquil Campbell says of the indie darlings' six-show run beginning tonight. "We wanted to do something that wasn't just a typical rock show. After you play a certain place a number of times, the audience has experienced that particular show that you've brought, and you need to keep trying to expand together the idea of what a show can be."

It would have been easier for the five-piece (Campbell and Amy Millan share vocals on the band's dreamy, romantic brand of indie-pop, with Evan Cranley, Chris Seligman and Pat McGee filling out the lineup) to simply book a night or two at a bigger venue, instead of six at the relatively intimate Lee's Palace. But asMillan puts it, the band made the "sentimental" choice.

"I think I probably saw my first gig at Lee's, and it's right around the corner from where we all grew up," Campbell says. "And Toronto is the city that has been the most supportive to us and has given us the most opportunity to get the music out there and be heard."

All this will come as a surprise to those who cast Stars at the forefront of Montreal's heavily hyped scene. But then, to listen to Millan -- a self-described "Cabbagetown girl" recently proclaimed the city's top female singer by Now magazine -- the band seems to have the best of both worlds, which would explain the Toronto run being followed by a final 2005 show in Montreal.

Having moved there in 2000 and recorded all three of their albums in Quebec, she suggests, makes Stars a Montreal band full of Toronto people. "Montreal made us the band we are," she says. "Although we may have apartments in other places and we may not spend as much time in Montreal as we used to, it's really our nest."

Actually, Millan no longer has an apartment anywhere: In a testament to Stars' gruelling tour schedule since the release of the acclaimed Set Yourself On Fire in October, 2004, she let her lease expire.

"I actually live out of my suitcase," she says. "It doesn't really make a lot of sense financially to shell out for an apartment I'll never be in."

If this year was a chaotic one, 2006 will be no different. Having just wrapped up a U.S. tour with Death Cab for Cutie and a European jaunt, Stars will ride Set Yourself On Fire's growing popularity with more shows on both continents. And when they briefly disperse next spring and summer, Millan won't be settling down in Toronto or anywhere else.

Aside from playing some shows with Broken Social Scene, of which she's a member, Millan will finally focus on Honey from the Tombs, her long overdue solo album.

"It takes a lot more for me to jump off the diving board when it comes to these songs that I've written," she confesses. "With Stars I have this wonderful group of people where we all do it together, so you share in everything -- and sharing takes a lot of pressure off. Plus it's been my job for five years, so it never occurs to me to feel nervous when I get up with Stars."

Nervous or not, Millan is looking forward to a change of pace when touring her more country-oriented disc. "There's pretty much only a couple of songs with drums on my record," she says. "It's a lot of acoustic guitar work, and quiet times.

"There's nothing I like to do more than drink a couple of bottles of wine and sing some old, traditional songs. So it's a chance to get away from all that cacophonous music. I'm losing my hearing, over here."

While few would classify Stars' ethereal sound as overly boisterous, Millan might be relieved to know that Campbell -- who takes the songwriting lead -- has a mellower sound in mind for their fourth disc.

"I could tell you exactly how it's going to be, but then everyone else in the band would be very annoyed," he says. "It'll be what I imagine and what they do. It'll probably be more quiet and more sexy, would be my guess."

"I'm very into writing murder ballads -- that's my new thing," he adds. "But the rest of them are pretty positive people. I'm not sure I can convince them."

If nothing else, they might at least be able to agree on heading abroad for inspiration. "I'd like to write the record in Amsterdam in October and then make the record in Jamaica in November -- that's my plan," Millan says with a laugh. "I promise we won't get too stoned and veer away from sex and death too much."

Considering that Campbell seems equally keen on Amsterdam, Stars might soon have a third town to play homecoming shows in. "It's a good town, man," he enthuses. "Amy likes the cheese; I like the weed."