ALBUM REVIEW: Bob Mould – Here We Go Crazy (Granary Music/BMG Records)
During his years in Husker Du and then Sugar, Bob Mould was one of the most influential songwriters of the ’80s/early ’90s alternative music scene.
It’s refreshing to find that even at the age of 64, the New Yorker is showing few signs of growing old gracefully on his 15th solo album.
It’s his first in four and a half years, and fans will be pleased to learn it’s more of the same angst-ridden noise from the guitar-slinger, who’s enjoying a late-career purple patch.
Here We Go Crazy is a deeply personal set of songs, written in a period of uncertainty, disruption and fear, with a title that feels very apt in the current world climate.
Mould sees the album unfold like the three acts of a play, each exploring distinct but related themes. The first few songs are about uncertainty, then comes a sense of hopelessness and despair, before finding redemption in love.
Here We Go Crazy kicks off with the soaring, melodic title track and lead single, and you know at once it’s business as usual for Mould and his band – drummer Jon Wurster and bassist Jason Narducy.
Over the course of 11 tracks and 30 minutes (there’s no room for fat here) he visits familiar topics of isolation, turmoil and transience, with his taut, jagged melodies punctuated by unexpected shards of sweetness and hope.
There’s lots of melancholy here; Breathing Room addresses a broken relationship, while Hard To Get, a revisitation of Sugar’s guitar-driven power pop sound, seeks to recapture a lost person, moment or feeling.
The thrashy Neanderthal, driven by fuzzy guitar and pounding drums, shows Mould hasn’t forgotten his hardcore roots, but his skill as a songwriter really shines through on standout track When Your Heart Is Broken.
It’s clear he’s been there, done it and worn the T-shirt when he sings: “When your heart is broken/You can’t find the breath to speak/Tossing, turning, restless nights/Teardrops falling from your eyes,” yet the song is strangely uplifting.
He puts down his Strat and goes acoustic on the reflective Lost Or Stolen, which sees our hero “standing on the edge of collapse” amid tech-induced self-isolation.
Bleakness turns into positivity on the empowering You Need To Shine, where Mould urges: “Don’t let sadness get into our weary bones/Don’t let darkness take your soul.”
The album is closed out by two more uplifting songs. Thread So Thin is about protecting the one you love, while the message of closing power ballad Your Side is simple: “If the world is going down in flames/I wanna be by your side.”
Is it punk, power-pop or alt-rock? Who cares? it’s music to touch and soothe the soul, and Bob Mould is rather good at it. 8/10.
