Customer Reviews

Starflyer 59 (Silver)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Without a doubt this is the moodiest, spaciest dreamiest masterpiece. When I heard this in college, it rooted me in my life in a way other music never has. Listening to this in full volume is the only way to go- you can truly appreciate the layer of sounds, and a laid back voice that's never strident or angry, just mellifluously melodramatic.

It is a Christian work in the sense that Lord of the Rings is a Christian work. It's not overt, it's just part of the art.

Quite simply it got me through every breakup in college and has gotten me through the other low points in my life. A companion without comparison, truly one of the reasons I love music. If you like this, definitely get "She's the Queen", which features remixes from this CD.

During the year and a half after this album first came out, I listened to it over a hundred times. How to describe it to someone who hasn't heard it? I've flirted with terms like "dark pop" and compared it, for lack of better comparisons, with bands like My Bloody Valentine. It's quite subtle--I didn't really start understanding its power until the fifth or sixth time I heard it--but luckily, it's relatively short. I found myself almost hypnotized as I looked at the album art while listening to the album--there's a kind of nostalgic, sad beauty to it all. A moody, shoegazer classic--great stuff.

Starflyer 59's first release "Silver" is truly a groundbreaking album. With repeated listens one may get the notion that Jason Martin the essence of Starflyer has an obsession with the shoegaze sound that started across the pond with bands such as My Bloody Valentine but rather Starflyer 59 is breaking new ground with "Silver". This album is full of the wall of guitar sound and it's hard to believe that that it's only ten tracks long. The idea with Starflyer is that the music should be emphasized on each release and "Silver" is the one that started it all. All of the tracks are great like "The Dungeon" and "Happy Days are here again" but really the point of this work is not the stand out single that you might hear on the radio but the "album" itself. Few bands have produced the quality of music that Starflyer 59 has over the last seven years and like a quest those who have discovered them have been rewarded. This album sounds like at times like a chainsaw may echoing on an airport runway but it has all never sounded so beautiful. I would recommend listening on headphones at night with "Silver" whisking you away to that which is Starflyer 59.

It has been over five years since Starflyer 59's self-titled debut hit the shelves largely unnoticed and to little industry fanfare, and I will venture to say that, in those five years, the music industry at large has been missing out on one of the most outstanding musical unfoldings of the decade. This first album, referred to as the silver album by devotees of the band, is a headwringer of ecstatic, guitar-drenched melodies and mellow dronings. Jason Martin, diligent headmaster of this school of harmonic pyrotechnics, put so much heart and sweat into this 36 minute slab of love, and it is quite evident. Not a beat is skipped or a step tripped. But you will trip out when you hear five screaming guitars coming at you head on, dripping with an ether-swath of swooning effects, then lulling you gently to dream. This recording is perfectly and precariously balanced, ready to rock or sway in the mood of your choice. I can say very little to do justice to this underrated masterpiece of guitar symphonics. It was a shining example for what could of been but never was, and we are all the poorer for it.

I remember hearing Hazel Would for the first time and simply being floored. Never had I heard such beauty, what an onslaught of chaotic spacey noise. That song alone solidified my LOVE for starflyer. It's a shame people are giving this album a rating under 4 stars, it's definitely a masterpiece. Please give these guys a listen it will change you. the Zenith is perhaps one of my favorite. It had the strangest beginning and then it just morphs into this beautfiul song. the harmonys at the end are killer. You just have to listen to this one from beginning to end not one bad song, it will dissolve in you and take you to space. Pick this album up you wont regret it, and while your at get all their other albums because you too will become a lover!

This album achieves a sound that I had long been scouring for in the music industry(mainstream, underground, everywhere) for an eternity. The musical style that is evident in this album is in my mind the last word in droning, distorted, guitar saturated music. The musical intricacies put into most of the songs give the repetitive song structures another dimension, and create an insanely appealing, melancholy brilliance to the album as a whole. Proving to be an influential guiding force in my taste in music, I can say no bad things about the album, and I think its the best debut album that Ive heard in a long, long time.

If you like noise, cool noise you'll love this CD. It takes noise to a different level. SF59 show the best use of distortion I've seen in a while. Again if you like cool noise you'll love this CD, I know I do.

I own all of Starflyer's Cds and this one remains my favorite.. Crunchy guitar.. Minimal lyrics.. Just a beautiful, hard and unique sound here.. Reminds me of My Bloody Valentine in parts but Jason Martin's vocals really give this band a more "rock and roll" feeling.. I'm a HUGE fan of starflyer... I've listened to them for a decade now.. and this is my favorite album.. ground breaking.

Okay, maybe life-changing is a little too dramatic. I am no musical expert; I cannot dazzle anyone with erudition. I merely offer my own experience. There are four essential recordings (and I own hundreds of CDs in many genres) that have changed the way I think about music: Vivaldi's "Four Seasons", Nirvana's "Nevermind", Counting Crows' "August and Everything After", and Starflyer 59's "Silver". This is the highest praise I can give to an album. The musical atmosphere today is very different than it was ten years ago, when "Silver" was released; this album may not sound as revolutionary now as it did then. And I wouldn't even call it my favorite SF59 album (I lean toward "Gold"). Nevertheless, "Silver" is truly a classic, and easily worth whatever amount Amazon will charge you for it.

If you've only heard Starflyer 59's more recent "pop" sound and you're looking for another album with that style, then this album is not for you. But, if you're looking for one of if not THE greatest Alternative Rock Albums of all-time, christian OR secular, than this album IS for you! I have very few words that can do justice to describe how good the entire album is, but if you listen to the album from beginning to end, you can't help but to be wrapped up in the high-emotions of the album. On this album, Martin takes heavy distortion and combines it with soft melody in beautifully woven hooks that will leave you begging for more of Starflyer's innovative harmony. Martin's lyrics may be light and wispy, but they provide the perfect backdrop for what really takes center stage on this album and sets it apart from others; the music.