Those who aren’t familiar with Bob Mould may be familiar with his previous bands Hüsker Dü (a heavy influence on the grunge era bands of the 90’s such as Nirvana) and Sugar.
They might recognise his song Dog on Fire as the theme tune to The Daily Show, or they might even have occasionally heard some of his songs pop up on programmes in the 2000’s, such as The OC. The point is, even though you may only have a brief recollection of someone’s work, the likelihood is that you’ve come across them more times than you might think. Bob Mould first started his solo career after Hüsker Dü disbanded in the late 80s, releasing two albums before being dropped from his label Virgin Records America in 1991. He subsequently formed Sugar in 1992 and despite being awarded NME’s Album of the Year 1992 with Copper Blue, the group disbanded in 1996. Since then, apart from briefly joining the writing staff of World Championship Wrestling in 1999, Mould has regularly released solo albums every 1 – 3 years, the most recent of which is Patch The Sky.
Consisting of 12 songs (which in my opinion is usually the perfect length for any regular album), loyal fans of Bob Mould will be pleased with what’s on offer here. Opener Voices in My Head is an inoffensive, cheerful, radio friendly jaunt with an equal mix of acoustic and fuzzy electric guitars.
Things soon ramp up though, with The End of Things, and those who are new to Mould will immediately be able to recognise how he managed to lay such groundwork for 90’s bands such as Kerbdog and Far as well as the ever-young, contemporary rock gods, Foo Fighters. Following tracks Hold On and You Say You keep up the pace with more fuzzy guitars and the same distinct “catchy-but-not-too-much” feel that American rock acts are so good at. Into the middle of the album and Losing Sleep shows us a little more subtlety, with some light strings accompanying the rock band feel of the first third of the album. From then onwards, it’s back to basics, with the same energetic 3-minute rock songs that are perfectly fine, but don’t stand out from the crowd. Black Confetti is an exception, where Mould sticks his elbows out for a powerful, mid-tempo groove that positively struts out of your speakers and around your room. Final track Monument is the traditional album closer in that it marks itself out as being different to the standard template used for the majority of the time. Though not exactly a slow burner, it’s over 5 minutes and takes a bit of time to let you take it in before finishing, which is a welcome change, though a bit late in the day.
Where Patch The Sky scores well is by sticking with what it does best. Only 2 of the 12 songs are over 4 minutes long and they all pretty much get to the point in giving you a noisy but accessible album that you can imagine playing computer games to or listening to on the commute to work. It isn’t ground-breaking or reinventing any genres, but I’m fairly sure none of his fans expect or desire that. Musically, it’s something akin to an intelligent version of American College rock but with more years on the clock and without becoming cliché or unsubstantial. It’s a bit one-dimensional in that a lot of the songs are straight-ahead rock without a lot of effort to vary in dynamics or tempo but again, you play to your audience. Bob Mould’s heavily layered guitars fill your ears without being brash and will sit on the right side of most people’s tastes.
Author – Steve, Bristol store
