Quick Reviews: Austen Starr & Joel Hoekstra's 13

There are a lot of things I know I don't understand about how people and the world work. Among those seems to be scheduling. Whether it's television programming or album releases, the ways in which the people trying to maximize attention and profit choose to release their work to the world often leaves me puzzled as to why they make the decisions they do. Many times, those choices are self-defeating, at least to me. It's certainly possible that I'm the weird one here, but the two albums we're here to talk about today are an example of just this phenomenon.

Austen Starr's "I Am The Enemy" and Joel Hoekstra's 13's "From The Fade".

There are actually two issues of scheduling I feel need to be addressed, so let's start with the most obvious of them. Both of these albums feature the guitar playing and songwriting of Joel Hoekstra. The same label is releasing two albums featuring his work in the same month, which I suppose could be them trying to piggy-back attention from one album to the other among his fans, but it seems to me more likely to burn us out on his playing. I complain often about musicians who are popping up too frequently while doing the same thing, which waters down their trademark sound, leaving at least me feeling less excited every time I see their name.

That isn't quite the case here, as the two albums do take moderately different directions. Austen Starr's album is more compact, more melodic, and has hints of emo creeping in around the edges. Joel Hoekstra's album is heavier, more guitar-oriented, and gives everyone more room to stretch their talents. The basic tones are the same, and Joel's guitar playing ties them together perhaps too much if you listen to the records back-to-back as I did, but these are not clones in the way many other projects from this particular label tend to be.

Both albums feature expert playing, but the difference in voice and approach make for wildly disparate experiences. Austen's voice cuts through the mix, her melodies the focal point of every song. The band is great, but they are serving her songs. Joel's album is all about the guitars, as Girish's voice is often put just low enough in the mix that it's difficult to pick out exactly what he's trying to tell us. Personally, when a production makes me strain to hear important pieces of the song clearly, it makes it difficult for me to enjoy the experience. Girish serves more as texture than anything, with his Axl Rose-isms catching my ear more than any lyric possibly could.

Listening to the albums together, it becomes an obvious matter of philosophy. Do you prefer songs or sound? I am one of those people who listens to music to hear melodies that get caught in my head, which leads me to prefer Austen's album. Joel's is the more impressive album from a musical perspective, but the songs don't shine through in the same way. Even if they were are hooky, the saturated sound of the production is taxing on my ears.

This brings us to the second issue of timing. Girish appeared on America's Got Talent with his band over this previous summer/fall. I am dumbfounded that the label knew he would be on the show, and they did not work to have something in the pipeline to take advantage of that new audience. This is, as far as I know, the first record since then Girish has appeared on, and it doesn't even have his name in the title. I can't help but think this was all a missed opportunity. That's not to say I think sales would miraculously soar, but when you're dealing with what is essentially a niche genre at this point, every little bit can help.

Leaving my self-indulgent musing aside, what we have here are two albums that are both solid efforts. I would not be surprised if more people gravitate toward the heavier rock album, but I'm going to be honest and say the winner of this little bit of circumstance is Austen Starr. Not only do I enjoy her album more, but I come away more impressed that she bested an album filled with veterans.

It's always the songs.