Mould, Bob

***BOB MOULD’s new album Beauty & Ruin is a twelve-track journey of loss, reflection, conciliation, and coming through the other side. It may very well be the most epic emotional roller coaster ever pressed into 36 minutes. Well into his fourth decade as a singer-songwriter, Mould is as relevant, ferocious, and poignant as he has ever been. Much of Beauty & Ruin deals with the passing of Mould’s father in October 2012, Bob’s struggle to come to terms with it, himself, and his own identity and legacy, and repercussions of all of the above on his ongoing relationships in the land of the living. Beauty & Ruin is a challenging work of raw beauty—and may well be Bob Mould’s finest work since his 1989 solo debut, Workbook. 
 
In fall 2012, Bob gave the world Silver Age, his debut album for Merge Records and the first to feature current bandmates JASON NARDUCY and JON WURSTER. The subsequent touring covered four continents, ending in October 2013 in South America. Beauty & Ruin is in large part the sound of this band, on the road relentlessly, congealing into the tightest unit to surround Bob in his storied career. Two days after returning from South America, the trio reconvened in Chicago to begin the recording of Beauty & Ruin. The October 2013 session at Steve Albini’s famed studio complex Electrical Audio consisted of nine days of band tracking and five days of layering guitars. The following month, Bob returned to Different Fur Studios in his hometown of San Francisco to finish lyrics for six songs, add vocals, and mix the album. Beauty & Ruin is a product of a survivor who refuses to give up, thrives through his work, and subsequently embraces the many changes around and within himself. Bob smartly declares the album as “yet another bonus round, and I am very grateful.”