Starflyer 59 -- Young In My Head

8/10

Young In My Head, Jason Martin's 15th album as Starflyer 59, feels like a goodbye. Maybe that's a tone a veteran rocker has to take at 47, but it's clear here that there's another tone Martin's missed from his past, and that he's longed to revisit: melancholy.
Young In My Head is the greatest downer of Starflyer 59's catalogue, and I say that with great admiration for Young in My Head, Starflyer 59, and all of the downer albums in Starflyer 59's distant past. Melancholy is a vibe Martin started to shift from in the late 90's, before putting out a final definitive statement on the feeling, 2000's Easy Come Easy Go, whose b-side compilation disc is one of my favorite albums of all time, and probably one of the best musical representations of depression put to tape.
Young in My Head, despite its upbeat, DIY rock sound, can't help but feel even bleaker than the band's older melancholy, in that this older Martin seems to have fewer years ahead of him, and fewer doors to walk through."Hey, are you listening?" he intones on the uptempo album opener, titled after that very phrase, "Are you near or far? Now I just don’t know who you are. And I don’t care anymore."
"I wanna work with my kid. Record all of his songs, cause mine are all gone," he sings on moody, spacey centerpiece, "Remind Me." "And when I play guitar, I'll play it on weekends, write riffs with my son, or some of my old friends." He's not kidding, either. His kid is the credited drummer on all ten of these tracks.
If Young In My Head is the final Starflyer 59 album, it's a great ending. Martin has again ventured into new sounds, like he's done all of his career, focusing an a crunchier, straightforward, nearly garage rock sound here. I say "nearly garage" because thank goodness the guy still loves his guitar pedals. Speaking of, there are plenty of references to past work outside of just the mood, including a 50's rock/metal Americana-style breakdown at the end of "Cry,"or "Cain" busting out a guitar solo like the ones in Gold. Really, if I've got one complaint, it's that for some reason Martin kept these song lengths to a strict 3.5 minute-minimum. He could have jammed both of the songs I've mentioned in this paragraph out a couple more minutes...just like he did on the albums they reference.
Still, Young In My Head is a great way to go, the maturity of an older artist who hasn't lost his edge still looking forward, while giving recognition to his past. And if Martin's got a few more albums in him, all the better. At this point, who's to say Martin's son doesn't take on the Starflyer 59 mantle in the near future? If Young in My Head is any indicator, the kid can play!

2019 Tooth & Nail Records
1. Hey, Are You Listening? 3:05
2. Young In My Head 3:14
3. Not That I Want To 3:34
4. Cry 3:39
5. Remind Me 3:38
6. Smoke 3:50
7. Wicked Trick 3:23
8. Junk 3:14
9. Cain 3:34
10. Crash 3:22