Starflyer 59 -- Talking Voice vs. Singing Voice

7/10

I'll make this two paragraphs. The first will actually be a review of Starflyer 59's Talking Voice vs. Singing Voice. The second will finally explain why the Nicsperiment didn't post during the summer of 2005. Both paragraphs will be too long to be actual paragraphs, but thankfully, those who don't care about my personal life can just skip the second one.
Starflyer 59's golden age ends halfway through 2005's Talking Voice vs. Singing Voice. Frontman, Jason Martin, had been on fire for the last five years, drawing in major talent to produce and play with him. However, the major thing in his favor seemed to be hunger. He seemed to be striving for greatness. 2000's Easy Come Easy Go shows the work of a man finding a sound and identity. 2001's Leave Here a Stranger is a work of unique vision, carried out with perfect execution. 2003's Old is an eclectic, sharp and singular rock record. Talking Voice vs. Singing Voice seems to start out with a clear vision: take that bouncy guitar sound from parts of Old, and pair it with strings (and at a select moments, a piano and a trumpet). This idea is implemented perfectly on lovely opener, "The Contest Completed," and moody, trumpet-employing second track, "Easy Street." Somehow, the album rises even higher on third track, "Good Sons," with a thrilling, high energy drum beat and piano line seemingly dueling one another. The album peaks at track four, "A Lists Go On," perhaps the most bitter and angry song in Starflyer's storied catalogue. The song builds upon a desperate guitar line and steady guitar beat over building, swirling strings, as Martin intones in the chorus "Is this my life? Maybe so..." building up to a fiery outro of Martin's repeated "Cuz no one ever listens/so tell me what's the difference?" It's quite a statement from a guy who's put out great album after great album to little acclaim, but...from this point in the album on, Martin seems to lose all ambition. "Night Life," "A Good Living," "Softness Goodness," and "Something Evil" all seem to march to the same meandering tempo, barely registering. Perhaps, now down to only Martin and multi-instrumentalist Frank Lenz, the band is suffering from creative exhaustion (Stavesacre bassist, Dirk Lemmenes, is listing as having played bass way down in the album's string section credits, but unfortunately, that instrument rarely registers in the mix here). The stunning, lovely, uplifting closer "Longest Line" then rolls around with the most religious lyric of Martin's career, "I've got one destination/for Jesus to call me home." The songs features bubbling electronics, electronic percussion, and the most moving, stirring use of strings on the album. It makes me wish tracks 5-8 lived up to the rest...if they did, I'd put this in the pantheon of all time great Starflyer albums. As it stands, for me Talking Voice vs Singing Voice marks the definitive moment Martin went from hungry musical auteur to solid veteran.

Speaking of definitive...I took a hiatus from blogging during the summer of 2005, often referencing that as a very dark time, but never in the last 14 years giving details of what actually happened. Every now and then I'll mention it in an album review, but just link to the one one brief, nebulous update I did post that summer. Well, here's the lowdown: I graduated from LSU in December of 2004 with a degree in Creative Writing and no employment plans other than to crawfish for my father that spring (in the crawfish ponds). Crawfishing is seasonal and ends in late May, and all spring of 2005, my mother was leaning on me heavily to find a non-crawfishing job and move out of her and my dad's house (I'd moved back home Junior year of college). I made plans with three friends to possibly get an apartment in Baton Rouge (my parents and I lived in the Pointe Coupee swamps), where we'd be splitting rent, giving me low financial overhead, and a chance to both safely test out the Baton Rouge job market and experience some early 20's city life. Instead, here's what happened: one of those friends was my cousin's boyfriend. Another was my cousin's best friend. In the years leading up to this, my cousin's boyfriend and I, along with the third friend I haven't mentioned yet, formed a friend trio, the likes of which I had been wanting my entire life, but before then had only seen in TV shows. We played video games, went to the movies, ate unhealthily, and generally had a blast together. Sometimes, my cousin's best friend came along with the three of us, too, and she fit right in. My cousin herself lived up in Monroe at the time, as she was in pharmacy school. Well, due to a large amount of circumstances not worth getting into, my cousin's boyfriend and her best friend ended up moving in together that spring in a large apartment, with the idea that potentially the other friend and I would tag along as roommates that summer, as we'd been discussing. That never happened...because in the first week of May, 2005, my cousin's best friend and her boyfriend slept together. I could care less now in 2019...those two grew up as next-door-neighbors, clearly always had a thing for each other, and and have now been married for over a decade--I can clearly see they were always meant to be together. My cousin and her now 14-years ex were never the best match (though they certainly had some good times), and at the time that he cheated, had just come off a pretty extended break and were fighting constantly. In all honesty, he and I had a heart-to-heart a decade ago, and are as close now as we were before all that drama happened. However, at the time it happened, this entire series of events was catastrophic for me. My entire social unit and vision for the future had shattered. Crawfishing ended two weeks later and I had no job. I had no place to stay but my parents house. I had no plans for the future. I had an extremely painful (and embarrassing) physical ailment that needed surgery. On top of that, six months post-graduation, I missed the structure of college, missed the refuge of the KLSU studio, my DJ'ing job I could never return to. Worst of all, I could feel my old nemesis, depression, coming back for me after an 18-month hiatus. So that's what happened. I took all the civil service tests I could, applied for a bunch of jobs, and did a lot of lying around my room at my parents' house alone in deep depression. I had a few refuges (Dave, you and Lyle's place may have saved my life). Perhaps the worst part of the timing of these events: I had made plans for years to leave the cult I'd grown up in that year, and the support system I'd planned to lean on now seemed gone. I suddenly realized I'd have to just leave on my own. This weighed on my mind like some crushing, viciously conscious planetoid. It was all too much. At one point in July, after that surgery made a mockery of my depression by making me physically unable to move, those two guys I went to New Orleans with a couple weeks ago (and Cornerstone 17 years ago) drove out to Pointe Coupee, carried me to one of their trucks, and forced me to go see Batman Begins with them. That was fun. I did a bunch of other stuff, like walk almost 30 miles a couple times, but I wrote about that last year. I'm somehow reaching the end of this series, and I'm beginning to repeat myself. And really, I'm skipping over the part of 2005 that Starflyer 59's Talking Voice vs Singing Voice is relative to, so here it is:
In the weeks after the catastrophic-friend-circle-crushing event occurred, I drove around, wondering what the hell just happened (and also trying to decide if Episode III was any good or not), and listening to my favorite song from this album over and over again, putting much meaning behind the lines as I sang, "Is this my life? Maybe so."


2005 Tooth & Nail Records
1. The Contest Completed 3:38
2. Easy Street 3:43
3. Good Sons 2:49
4. A Lists Go On 3:21
5. Night Life 4:26
6. A Good Living 3:33
7. Softness, Goodness 4:05
8. Something Evil 3:42
9. The Longest Line 2:46