On 'Hey John,' he sings directly to his dad, a blue collar trucker who inspired Martin, and died a little more than a decade ago. 'Life In Bed' revisits a younger version of himself with a plodding melody that crests with distorted guitar bends, while sustained piano and dreamy guitar lift 'Like to Lose' out of endless defeat. 'It was like, 'You gotta put a number next to the name.''ДЄfter a decade settling into a stripped-down sound - and collaborative detours with Pedro the Lion's David Bazan ( Lo Tom) and Demon Hunter's Ryan Clark ( Low & Behold) - Starflyer 59's 16th album released this month, Vanity, takes Martin's plainspoken lyricism and makes it far more intimate by bringing his voice to the front of the mix. 'Plus I was into bands like Galaxie 500,' he adds. I always thought I was older than I was.'Д®ven the band name recalls a bygone era: raised on '50s nostalgia in the '80s, 'Starflyer' sounded like something Martin might find on the cover of a classic comic book. 'Even when I was a kid, I would rather hang out with my dad and his cronies talking about the Navy in the '50s than hanging out with my current buddies. 'I've always been kind of an old soul,' Martin, 48, chuckles in his Southern California accent. Drop the needle anywhere on the band's discography - 16 albums, several EPs and singles since 1994 - and the withering and enlightening effects of time emerge as a singular theme across heavy shoegaze, hazy California-style Britpop, and dreamy rock and roll. Starflyer 59's Jason Martin was born to be old.

Falling in love with you piano notes