The old five-point scale has been retired in favor of just rating stuff 1-10, which allows me a much more nuanced final rating. Still don't take it that seriously. Most of these come from my own collection, so the grades skew rather high. Your results may vary if you send me stuff to review.

Each album is given three Essential tracks, my personal favorites, regardless of how weird and inconsequential they are. The Quintessential pick is the one I think best represents the album as a whole, so you can try one song instead of a whole album of songs. Non-Essential picks range from merely disappointing to outright unlistenable.

Starflyer 59

[#] Le Vainqueur (1995)

Three par excellence sadcore tunes and no more.

Reviewed June 19, 2024

Much like how Silver had a companion EP in She's the Queen, Gold gets the equivalent treatment with Le Vainqueur. Given that Gold is a lot more, uh, dire of an album though, don't expect the freewheeling, experimental redos and castoffs from that EP. These songs frankly outdo Gold in leadenness, absolutely oppressive with their heaviness and isolation, and unfortunately you only get three of them. More telling is that the title track, an explosive epic bookended with the sounds of creaking, shearing metal by way of guitar feedback, features twice, once in full and the second in a hasty radio edit that trims the release of the first four minutes of buildup. That's your cue this is a glorified single—but it is a very, very good single.

"These days on my own/So why'd you ask when I'm lonely for her?" Jason whispers buried in a roar of guitars tuned to the key of pure misery, a bassy blast that makes "When No One Calls (It Will Be Alright)" both the medicine and the spoonful of sugar that helps it go down. "The Starflyer 2000 Reprise" is even more bittersweet, a re-recording of the unfortunately-titled "Leigh and Me"—done after Jason's separation from Sixpence None the Richer's Leigh Nash. Jason's aching, gravelly vocals might not be as pretty as Leigh's smooth croon, but the added shaky sighs in the refrain make it all the more emotionally potent. The Goodbyes Are Sad/Next Time Around single really should've included to give this thing a little more meat, but if you don't mind the lack of runtime, Le Vainqueur makes for some of the finest mope music around.

Essential:	"When No One Calls (It Will Be Alright)", "The Starflyer 2000 Reprise", "Le Vainqueur"
Quintessential:	"When No One Calls (It Will Be Alright)"
Non-Essential:	"Le Vainqueur [Radio Edit]"
Rating: