I Win

Description

I Win is a four-track CD-EP by the American indie rock band Starflyer 59, independently released on Badout in 2006. Track 1, “I Win”, is listed as “taken from forthcoming album due out 9/06 courtesy of Tooth & Nail Records,” My Island.

For some reason, it seems like exceptional bands love to save their most endearing treasures for the EP format. I think of wonderful artists like Belle & Sebastian, Hood, and Cocteau Twins (and the list could go on), and their most vulnerable and beautiful music has been on EP’s. Jason Martin’s Starflyer 59 has a long running tradition that surrounds EP’s. Martin has consistently supplied us EP’s between every album for over a decade, and if Martin’s full-lengths are landmarks in our year, his EP’s are equally as essential.

In the last 2 years, the in-between album EP’s have been released on Badout rather than SF59’s home label Tooth & Nail. So while they might be more difficult to find, The Last Laurel and this new EP, I Win, are every bit (if not more) as rewarding as the EP’s of the past. Manufactered in limited quanities and available through mail only, I Win is an all too short 4-song EP that features SF59’s lead single from the newly released (and tenth full-length) album, My Island. It goes without saying that this EP is best treated as the rightful companion piece to My Island, and also features excellent artwork courtesy of ColdWarKids.

If My Island has a certain funkiness to it, then this EP shows us the band’s more experiemental side to their unique brand of guitar-pop. The 3 exlusive songs here certainly shouldn’t be approached as b-sides. «White Fog» is an instrumental piece that is simultaneously playful and morose. The animated drumming of «Family Line» takes SF59 is an entirely new direction, yet all the typical elements stay the same. Martin’s pace is slow to mid, guitars are direct and intricate, and vocals are dry and reluctantly cool. The EP’s final track, «W.S. 2005» is a somber ballad that is led by melancholy pianos (think Old), lonesome guitars and handclapped rhythms shadowed by tambourines. The title track is taken from My Island, and if this full-length is closest thing SF59 has come to a ‘singles’ record (which I believe to be the case), ‘I Win’ is the epitome of SF59 guitar-pop. Just a goose-bump inducing rush of Martin perfection.

These tracks shouldn’t be missed, because if they are, an important diminsion of the SF59 evolution would be ignored. Which brings me to the most basic question: Is this SF59 EP really essential? YES YES YES!!! But it should be heard as the shadow of their wonderful new record, My Island. Gosh…do I ever love this band! God bless Starflyer! [gtj, The Black and White Magazine, 9/20/2006]

CD-EP tracklist:

01. I Win – 3:09
02. White Fog – 2:30
03. Family Line – 2:47
04. W.S. 2005 – 2:58

Note: Released in a cardboard sleeve.