@johncmayer: You can do better

These days, it is hard to distinguish between John Mayer, the great guitarist and solid lyricist, and John Mayer, the Twittering tool-bag. And though past albums prove there’s significant evidence he’s the former, Mayer’s newest album “Battle Studies” goes a long way in showing he might have been too worried about the latter persona to make a good album this go-around.

Though not without its high-points, “Battle Studies” is too tongue-in-cheek and at the same time too serious for its own good. With Mayer’s much-talked about relationship with Jennifer Aniston and purportedly lothario ways coloring every track, the change in perspective (sometimes to an extreme extent) on various tracks makes the album ultimately unfulfilling.

Opener “Heartbreak Warfare” is the clear stand-out, as Mayer plays with U2-like sonic expansion while crafting a “love is war” comparison with his croon (“Clouds of sulfur in the air / Bombs are falling everywhere”), but with the lyrics being woefully serious and probably about Aniston, the track’s effect is slightly empty.

Inversely, “Who Says” unfolds like a weak stoner kiss-off, with Mayer asking “Who says I can’t get stoned?” and noting that he “wants to call up a girl I used to know to fake love for an hour or so,” resulting in one of the worst first single choices of recent memory.

The rest of the tracks fit somewhere between those extremes, with “Assassin” playing out like a brother to “Heartbreak Warfare” (musically fantastic, lyrically hyperbolic) and a cover of Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads” feeling severely misplaced amid the quieter, more introspective efforts.

“Half of My Heart” featuring Taylor Swift and “War of My Life” are indicative of a more low-fi sound that works for the most part, but they also tap along to no real end.
Mayer noted he wanted to be more explorative with “Studies,” and perhaps that’s the reason it’s widely uneven and at some points, boring. Or perhaps a few less tweets would have made things more focused.