Battle scars show age: Battle Studies reviewed

Battle Studies
John Mayer
Sony
Rating: 3 1/2 stars (out of 5 stars)

John Mayer is 32, and he sounds it.

His latest album, Battle Studies, presents the rocker as dark and jaded — a far cry from the young man who happily crooned away on songs like "Your Body Is a Wonderland" and "No Such Thing" on Room for Squares.

The song that best represents the album is "Who Says," whose acoustic guitar part sounds oddly like Continuum's "Stop This Train." The two songs even have a similar message, although they express it very differently. Whereas a younger Mayer once sang, "Stop this train / I wanna get off and go home again / I can't take the speed it's movin' in," the man behind Battle Studies seems to have resigned himself to growing older in the lonely, escapist way that so many rock stars do: "Who says I can't get stoned? / Call up a girl I used to know / fake love for an hour or so / Who says I can't get stoned?"

Throughout the disk's 11 tracks, Mayer showcases a greater level of musical diversity than he has on any of his past albums. "Half of My Heart," with its upbeat, guitar-driven melody and poignant lyrics is reminiscent of Mayer's earlier music. The lyrics to "Perfectly Lonely" are just as poignant — albeit far sadder — "Nothing to do / nowhere to be / a simple little kind of free / Nothing to do / no one to be / Is it really hard to see? / I'm perfectly lonely / ‘cuz I don't belong to anyone / Nobody belongs to me." — but Mayer forgoes his signature sound in favor of a more Hendrix-influenced style of playing.

On "Crossroads," Mayer takes the Hendrix influence to a whole other level. The song features a strong, funky electric guitar and showcases Mayer's abilities — which have previously been buried beneath swoon-worthy lyrics — as a guitarist to their fullest extent.

Although the range of styles on Battle Studies makes for an engaging listen, the album seems thrown together and comes across as a little disjointed. While Room for Squares, Heavier Things and Continuum have all been unified in sound and theme, Battle Studies sounds just like its title — Mayer is studying (and evidently, battling), unsure of the direction he wants his album to take.

He may be in his thirties, but it sounds like John Mayer is finally having the quarter life crisis he sang about almost a decade ago.