We suspected Jason Martin, the craftsman behind Starflyer 59, had something up his sleeve last year when his Fell in Love at 22 EP saw him taking an abrupt stylistic left turn. It was nothing short of a total revision of the band's sound. The guitars blanketed instead of fuzzed. Hushed pianos and hypnotic keyboard effects gave his songs a newfound sophistication. And his voice, previously coated by layers of syrupy distortion, was not only audible, but genuinely agile. For those who heard it, the EP came as a surprise. Martin had scrapped the "American My Bloody Valentine" label and crafted songs that by turns caressed and entranced, and proved he was not only better than an above-average imitator but actually an original artist.
While his new effort, Everybody Makes Mistakes, doesn't exactly pick up where that EP left off, it does preserve the same whimsical sense of experimentation. This time out, Martin has opted to scale back some of the loftier ambitions of the EP in favor of simpler song structures. And though the results might not be drop-your-jaw astounding, it's a beguilingly pleasant listen. The fuzzy guitars have returned, but the songs are no longer permitted to fray at the edges or drift off into a sludgy sonic netherworld. The chord changes are discernable; the melody is the focus.
While they don't deviate too far from the non-stick surface of the Starflyer Pop Frying Pan, the melodies of Everybody Makes Mistakes wind their way down a more countrified route at times, and even occasionally find their way to the land of New Wave. The opening track, "Play the C Chord," demonstrates the power of Starflyer's lethal catchiness, invading the brain without the benefit of a distinct chorus. The New Wave surfaces on the second track, "No New Kinda Story," which flashes a ticklish, shimmering guitar hook before spinning into something downright sinister midway through. Another highlight comes with the morose "A Dethroned King," a track that pummels with angst.
If one criticism can be leveled at Jason Martin, it's that he sounds at times-- particularly on "No More Shows" and the aforementioned "A Dethroned King"-- like he's reaching for that elusive Radiohead sound. To his credit, though, he never attempts to scale the signature vocal and musical peaks that would be required, contenting himself instead to take a more even path through the sonic foothills.
Everybody Makes Mistakes clocks in at a misleading 40 minutes, which includes 8 minutes of silence and a woefully out-of-place Kenny G bootleg following the final track. But what it lacks in length, it compensates for in girth. This is chubby pop, dense and rewarding. One night of this album feels like a week-- a sleepless week. Martin artfully churns out well- crafted pop without ever sinking into a quagmire of repetition. It's not anything that hasn't been done before, of course, but it is damn good music.
