Although their extensive career should absolve the group from such narrow-minded cataloging, the "Christian band" label still burdens indie vets Starflyer 59. Despite their best rebuttals ("We're Christians in a band, not a Christian band!"), the tag's stuck, and after nine studio albums, what's it matter anymore? Frontman Jason Martin must've been one of those precocious Sunday schoolers who looked past the bake sales and finger painting to realize how depressing Bible stories actually can be. His slick yet downcast shoegazer ditties have established the group's spirituality as more in step with "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" than "Jesus Loves Me", a pathos critical in distinguishing Starflyer from more popular, albeit extinct, bible-thumping rockers (R.I.P. Jars of Clay, Creed).
After a misguided attempt to revive their mid-90s classic rock sound on I Am the Portuguese Blues, the band finds a more appropriate medium to project their soporific melancholia. Talking Voice vs. Singing Voice picks up where 2003's Old left off, mixing Bossanova-era Pixies surf guitar with breathy, Nyquil-induced vocals and, despite whittling down to a mere two members, the band produces their biggest sounding album to date. Old's discreet violin parts expand to grandiose string ensembles on Talking Voice while fluffy production dulls Starflyer's staple lo-fi, sharp-edged guitar sound.
Always the New Order aficionado, Martin fully realizes his love for 80's electro-pop on songs like "The Contest Completed" and "Good Sons". We're not talking Killers-style new wave pandering here, just some playful synth tinkering and a few electronic drumbeats where gritty garage instruments used to be. One of the few uptempo moments on the album, "Good Sons" spontaneously combusts after a downtrodden verse, flashing sugary synth leads and a potpourri of drum machine blips reminiscent of "Bizarre Love Triangle". While not as fun, religiously charged closer "The Longest Line" mashes strings, guitars, synths and drum loops into one multi-layered pulp, sounding part-Duran Duran, part-Billy Graham with lyrics like "Got one destination/ For Jesus to call me home".
Unfortunately a return to the sound of Old also means a return to Starflyer's Radiohead imitation, which more accurately sounds like an imitation of Hood's Radiohead mimicry. Martin's lyrics aren't interesting enough to warrant acoustic elegies like "Softness, Goodness" and "A Good Living", and he deploys hackneyed religious lyrics where Thom Yorke would launch an anti-Bush philippic. Sure, they overestimate their modest songwriting's allure, and yeah, Martin's vocals are perpetually set to an unflappable, emotionless "coo". Still, after nine diverse albums, these guys consistently churn out solid sleepy-eyed, mid-tempo indie rock, which helps make the sentimental spirituality easier to stomach.
