John Mayer - Battle Studies

Angsty pre-teens rejoice: John Mayer has finally made an album just for you.

Mayer’s fourth studio release, Battle Studies, is consistent with his previous works, replete with his unimpressive vocals and ridiculously repetitive lyrics. The instrumentals are the strong point of the album, but the bland guitar sound that makes up the bulk of the songs lacks the ability to captivate.

In recent years, Mayer has taken steps toward blues music. Battle Studies is mostly a step in the other direction, but the blues influence is still evident. This shows most heavily on “Crossroads,” an update of the Robert Johnson track. The cover is the album’s high point, but in this case, high is barely middling.

When he steps away from the blues, though, Mayer falls straight back into his soft boy-rock cocoon. “All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye” has a bit of John Lennon influence, but, in karaoke bar tradition, is a sort of failed tribute. The entire last minute-and-a-half of the song is devoted to repeating the title over and over, and over. This has already been seen in previous offerings like “Waiting on the World to Change,” but on Battle Studies, the repetition reaches new levels of tedium.

Of course, the lyrics aren’t the only repetitive aspect of the album. Every song seems to be some fraternal twin of the one before, lacking the ingenuity that might differentiate it from any of the others. Collectively, the album deals with heartbreak, heartbreak, impending heartbreak, marijuana, heartbreak, pretending to be okay with heartbreak and then, covering new ground, heartbreak.

In these times of economic hardship, there is an easy way for John Mayer fans to save money. Download one track and simply listen to it on loop. It will be exactly like Battle Studies, but significantly cheaper.