Another year, another Ty Segall release. The nearly 30-year-old San Francisco rocker’s newest addition to his rich and ever-growing catalogue certainly does not disappoint the die-hard fans wondering if he can continue his almost unrivaled consistency of quality albums.
Segall features a familiar cast of characters backing him up, with Charles Moothart beating the drums, Mikal Cronin thumping up and down on bass and second-time Segall contributor Emmett Kelly playing rhythm guitar. Another notable name on the personnel list is famous producer and Chicago rocker Steve Albini, best remembered for producing the final album of little-known ‘90s grunge-rock band Nirvana’s “In Utero.”
Early on in the album, Segall seamlessly weaves in and out of the aggressive fuzzy power cord rock he was known for in his 2014 outing “Manipulator,” with songs like “Break a Guitar” and “The Only One” and the softer mellow acoustic rock that soaked up previous albums, such as 2011’s “Goodbye Bread” and 2013’s “Sleeper.” He smoothly molds elements of both styles into the self-titled album’s second track “Freedom.”
The listeners even get treated to Segall going down a path not traveled very often by the artist with the long instrumental solo jam featured in “Warm Hands (Freedom Returned)” bringing back good memories of the closing track from Segall’s 2012 side project album “Slaughterhouse” by the Ty Segall Band, which, on a side note fans are still waiting to see more of that.
As the album continues on its joyful 36-minute 24-second long journey, the audience gets taken down the road of weird and unexpected, as about halfway through, “Thank you Mr. K” the music comes to a standstill to where moments later a violent shattering of glass raddles and rings soon replaced with return of the music.
The album really reaches its highpoint with the next track and the album’s first single “Orange Color Queen” which really breaks interesting ground for the artist and nose dives into an abyss of trippy acoustic psychedelic magic. The track manages to put a major spotlight on how versatile a vocalist Segall can be, an aspect of his music that surely does not always receive the credit it deserves.
However, do not confuse this with being an album that is built around one big hit, this album comes packed with enough interesting and fun tracks to help reach the standards fans have come to know on just every album of Segall’s. Any doubt of it not being to that high level is completely put to rest by the weird pop track “Papers” an absolute homerun by Segall that is almost too catchy not to play on repeat. Segall puts forth a strong outing right up until the end, with a very subtle, Beatlesque-level quality harmony, soft to loud rocker known as “Take Care (To Comb Hair).”
Overall, Ty Segall’s second self-titled effort is one that must not be ignored by die-hard fans and when it is all said and done, this album could jump right into the conversation of Segall’s best work. An absolute must-listen.
