Starflyer 59 -- The Changing of the Guard

7/10

Sigh...two years after he put out one of my favorite Starflyer 59 albums, Dial M--a record concerned with becoming musically obsolete--Jason Martin returns with 2010's The Changing of the Guard, an album that seems to confirm Martin's now come to terms with the fact that music is now just his part-time hobby.
There's no ambition, hunger, or resolve, and little ingenuity on display here, just ten pleasant, non-boat-rocking indie rock tunes. Still, there are moments, like when the shifty, uptempo chorus of "Trucker's Son" kicks in, that you're reminded, "Oh yeah, this guy's a genius." Unfortunately, those don't come often.
If anything sets The Changing of the Guard apart from other Starflyer 59 albums, apart from the lack of any stakes, it's a slight country influence, twang, and snap. It's consistent, but never fully explored. It's not really an influence that suits my personal tastes, but I wish it was at least committed to more.
At the time The Changing of the Guard was released, I was working an office job (still am...), and adjusting to the first year of fatherhood. I was feeling like the boring aspects of adulthood were closing in around me, and I most definitely didn't want a run-of-the-mill album from an artist who had previously given me so much excitement. I also felt like (and complained about it a lot here), that indie music had gotten too boring and polite, with the so called "quiet revolution." I definitely didn't want an artist who had once rocked so hard musically, even at the times when he wasn't heavy, per se, to go so soft, as well. With that in mind, and much easier expectations to be met, listening to it nine years later, I still feel like The Changing of the Guard is a just a very safe, pleasant, but unremarkable album. I can't hate it, but I also can't love it. It's just...okay.
Martin is a very talented guy, and with limited time and resources, I feel like he could make albums like The Changing of the Guard on into perpetuity...I dunno, now I'm having an existential crisis. Is it worth it for Martin to keep making these if they're just okay? Is it better to get just okay albums from him every three or four years than to get no more albums from him, leaving his existent catalogue as is? Should I apply this same standard to my own life? I'm the same age Martin was when he recorded this nine years ago. What am I doing with my life? I need a beer.


2010 Tooth & Nail Records
1. Fun Is Fun 2:50
2. Shane 4:06
3. Time Machine 2:48
4. Trucker's Son 3:15
5. The Morning Rise/Frightening Eyes 3:19
6. I Had a Song for the Ages 3:26
7. Coconut Trees 3:30
8. C.M.A.R. 3:02
9. Kick the Can 2:48
10. Lose My Mind 3:21