As Built To Spill begins to enter middle age, the band's nervousness about aging has entered their lyrical and musical content as well. "Things Fall Apart," off the band's upcoming album There Is No Enemy, takes an inspired, bleak look at all the dangers that Doug Martsch associates with his youth (and really, his entire generation's youth), and the perils of having those risks fade out. It's a fantastic track, one less the product of a cranky aging star than a remorseful voice fearful of what's to come, on a personal and, yes, cultural level.

The second track, "Hindsight," is a much happier-sounding song, but there's a creeping sense of unfinished business in the lyrics that permeats into the music.

The new tracks are definitely enough to raise interest in There Is No Enemy, Built to Spill's first since 2006's You In Reverse, and what has been rumored to be the bands last. It's looking like Martsch could fully enter the class of still-prouductive elder statesmen of Generation X, roles currently occupied by John Forgerty and John Doe for their respective generations.

[Stereogum]