Mould, Bob

Mould, Bob

Blue Hearts

Merge

***In 2019, BOB MOULD bucked the era’s despair with his melodic, upbeat album Sunshine Rock. Cut to spring 2020, and he has this to say: “We’re really in deep shit now.” That sentiment informs his new full-length album, Blue Hearts, the raging-but-catchy yin to Sunshine Rock’s yang. To be sure, we were in some shit in 2018, when Mould recorded Sunshine Rock. Back then, he had a song called “American Crisis” that didn’t fit the album. “That song is the seed for what we’re talking about now,” Mould says from his home in San Francisco during the COVID-19 lockdown. “American Crisis” is the third song in a walloping album that spits plainspoken fire at the people who fomented this crisis. Through some of the most direct, confrontational lyrics of his four-decade career, Mould makes his POV clear: “I never thought I’d see this bullshit again / To come of age in the ’80s was bad enough / We were marginalized and demonized / I watched a lot of my generation die / Welcome back to American crisis.” Why “welcome back”? Because Mould experienced deja vu writing Blue Hearts in the fall of 2019. “Where it started to go in my head is back to a spot that I’ve been in before,” he says. “And that was the fall of 1983.” Back then, Mould was a selfdescribed “22-year-old closeted gay man” touring with the legendary HUSKER DU and seeing an epidemic consume his community. Leaders were content to let AIDS kill...

Mould, Bob

Sunshine Rock

Merge

***CHECK STOCK!!!  Recieved a 7.6 rating from Pitchfork.  The cliché circulated after the 2016 election foretold a new artistic golden age: Artists would transform their anger and anxiety into era-defining works of dissent in the face of authoritarianism. Yet BOB MOULD calls his new album Sunshine Rock. It’s not because Mould likes the current administration. His decision comes from a more personal place—found in Berlin, Germany. “Four years ago, I made plans for an extended break,” Mould explains. “I started spending time in Berlin in 2015, found an apartment in 2016, and became a resident in 2017. My time in Berlin has been a life changing experience. The winter days are long and dark, but when the sun comes back, all spirits lift.” Three years in Berlin would quite literally shed new light on Mould’s everyday mindset. This being Bob Mould, Sunshine Rock still has darker moments. “Lost Faith,” for example, has him quietly lamenting, “I’ve lost faith in everything.” The Mould of 1990 may have wallowed in the feeling, but the Mould of 2018 jumps into a hooky, bombastic chorus where he sings, “Really gotta stop this now, this is your / Last chance to turn around, I know we / All lose faith from time to time, you / Better find your way back home.” Those cathartic moments in “Lost Faith” foreground a surprising element of Sunshine Rock: Mould’s rawest vocals since his throat-shredding days in HUSKER DU.

Mould, Bob

Patch The Sky

Merge

***"Here’s the deal. In 2012, people loved Silver Age (to a degree that surprised me, pleasantly), likewise Beauty & Ruin in 2014 (despite the heaviness of the subject matter, which I thought might be a bit alienating... apparently not. Another pleasant surprise.). But PATCH THE SKY is the darkest one. After the Letterman performance in February 2015 where 'dust fell from the rafters,' it would have seemed logical to go the punk rock route—an entire album of two-minute songs—but that wasn’t where my soul was at. I withdrew from everyday life. I wrote alone for six months. I love people, but I needed my solitude. The search for my own truth kept me alive. These songs are my salvation. I’ve had a solid stretch of hard emotional times, and thanks for the condolences in advance. I don’t want to go into the details—more death, relationships ending, life getting shorter—because they’re already in the songs. Just listen and see if you can fit yourself into my stories. The words make you remember. The music makes you forget. But PATCH THE SKY is also the catchiest one. I always aim for the perfect balance of bright melodies and dark stories. I’ve used this juxtaposition for years. This time, I’ve tuned it to high contrast. The first side of the album is generally simple and catchy. The second side is heavier in spirit and tone. Opposing forces and properties. I love both sides of PATCH THE SKY. At the core of these songs...