Breaking free from the creative freedom offered by pro-tools and samples is often a brave pursuit for those recently converted – but ex-Husker Du and Sugar frontman, Bob Mould manages to briefly elude his reckless stray into experimental territory and his equally reckless and ill-judged LoudBomb moniker to whittle a dozen or so loathful, self-probing and crunchy guitar-driven power-pop nuggets.
Assisted by Brendan Canty (Fugazi) and David Barbe (Sugar) Mould rediscovers some form with the beefy and swelling ‘Circles’, the Foo-Fighting ‘Paralyzed’ and ‘Underneath Days’ and the sweet, enigmatic sway of ‘Always Tomorrow’ and ‘Days Of Rain’.
Performed with all the jangly-pop jouissance of a beleagured indie master, fans will find the album difficult to fault, muscling back into the limelight stolen by Dave Grohl and reinstating Mould into his rightful place as legendary godfather of all that is dark, incendiary and mouth-wateringly sugar-coated.