“Phoning it in” suggests a lack of effort. This isn’t that.
No one wants to hear a grown man –particularly this one– drone on about his personal miseries and travails, and since misery and travail seem to be my default states at this point, I try to spare you all the spectacle. So I experiment, and riff, and try to think of ways to make something I give a shit about.
In short: you’re getting what I’ve got. Fuck off if it’s not good enough.