The band's label has classified the style of Starflyer 59 as "British noise-pop," which is kind of funny, since everyone involved in the project is from Southern California. I understand what they're getting at, though.
Starflyer 59 is the brainchild of former Dance House Children axe-man Jason Martin. By all reports, Martin was ready for something different. This certainly fits that bill.
The album opens with the wildly distorted, dirge-like riff of "Blue Collar Love." The piece settles into a sort of sweet, moody, stupor while Martin's subdued, breathy vocals glide in and out. The guitar sounds teeter on and over the edge of feedback, as they do throughout the remaining tracks.
Those guitar sounds, in fact, are the star of the show here. Martin and producers Blood (Gyro and Jerome of Mortal) dug deep into their bag of tricks to pull together a 34-minute collection of sounds that will appeal to the moody, grungy, melodic, shoegazer pop fan in all of us.
To be honest, I couldn't make out enough of the lyrics to make much of a statement about their content. This seems like the type of album to soak in aurally, anyhow. The liner notes give a fairly strong hint at the band's point of view, however; the only name listed in the "thanks" section is "Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior."
Other coverage for this album
Opus 2001Reviewed by Andrew OlsonThis album is intensely both weird and cool. I own it, and listen to it over and over. It is not as good as Gold or Americana, SF59's newer albums, but it still is extremely well-done. It has a noisy, distorted, space-rock kind of sound, like feedback-static buzz. The rocking sounds of "Blue Collar Love" and "The Dungeon" are just awesome. I can't describe SF59's sound in words, you have to…Heaven's Metal #47Reviewed by Doug Van PeltDeliverance: "I'll have a coke." Living Sacrifice: "Give me a Mountain Dew." Starflyer 59: "I'd like a Perrier with a twist of lime." While some bands take a predictable approach, Starflyer 59 goes for that "unique unto itself" approach. They have an alternative sound with edgy guitars, often painting a dreamy landscape with its melody lines. I wouldn't describe it as gothic (or goth), but it…Similar sounding releases
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