Good old
Starflyer 59: prolific as ever, poppy as ever, and quite nearly perfect as ever. This is true pop/rock in the traditional sense: the type of tunes where after listening, one might say, "Now that was a song!" This is constructed to be simple and plain. There aren't any frills -- just good songwriting, repetitively catchy choruses, and those oh-so-sexy vocals that only a Martin (he's got a brother who's not half bad at the pop writing thing, either) can produce. Amazingly, two of the best songs of the five located herein aren't even
Starflyer's. "West Coast Friendship" is a
Bon Voyage (Martin's side project with his wife, Julie, handling vocal duties) tune and "Happy Birthday John" can be credited to
Damien Jurado. The slide guitar on the latter tune, combined with the uniquely simple highs, makes a genuinely fine piece of pop craftsmanship. Most definitely it's the standout track on the EP. The album rounds out with the instrumental "Theme From Dromedary," which harks back to earlier
Starflyer 59 material (think
Gold or
Americana) with its dark hollowness flowing into a foreboding time structure set up by the eerily simple guitar tone. With perfect skill that at this point in the band's career just seems effortless, each album is becoming more and more shameful. Yeah, it's a shame that these guys aren't bigger than they are. ~ Kurt Morris