Merge Records
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CD digipak with booklet.Visit product page →
LP + download.
Bob Mould has confirmed June 9 as the release date for his all new studio album, Beauty & Ruin. Described as a compact epic, Beauty & Ruin packs a staggering lifetime's worth of emotion and experience into a 36-minute package sure to be hailed as a landmark addition to Bob's formidable body of work. As with 2012²s Silver Age, Beauty & Ruin finds Bob joined by his longtime band of bassist Jason Narducy and drummer Jon Wurster, who will be backing Bob at this year's SXSW as he debuts Beauty & Ruin material. Prior to that, Bob will wrap up the intimate 25 Years of Workbook mini-tour with a March 6 return to The Late Show with David Letterman and two final sold out shows March 7 and 8 at New York's City Winery, both featuring Narducy and cellist Alison Chesley.
Track Listing :
Side A:
1. Low Season
2. Little Glass Pill
3. I Don't Know You Anymore
4. Kid With Crooked Face
5. Nemeses Are Laughing
6. The War.
Side B :
1. Forgiveness
2. Hey Mr. Grey
3. Fire in the City
4. Tomorrow Morning
5. Let the Beauty Be
6. Fix It -
CD / digipak (blue foil) + poster insert.Visit product page →
Standard black vinyl LP is jacket (blue foil) + full album download coupon.
Here's the deal. In 2012, people loved Silver Age (to a degree that surprised me, pleasantly), likewise Beauty & Ruin in 2014 (despite the heaviness of the subject matter, which I thought might be a bit alienating... apparently not. Another pleasant surprise.).
But PATCH THE SKY is the darkest one. After the Letterman performance in February 2015 where 'dust fell from the rafters,' it would have seemed logical to go the punk rock route'an entire album of two minute songs'but that wasn't where my soul was at. I withdrew from everyday life. I wrote alone for six months. I love people, but I needed my solitude.
The search for my own truth kept me alive. These songs are my salvation. I've had a solid stretch of hard emotional times, and thanks for the condolences in advance. I don't want to go into the details'more death, relationships ending, life getting shorter'because they're already in the songs. Just listen and see if you can fit yourself into my stories. The words make you remember. The music makes you forget. But PATCH THE SKY is also the catchiest one.
I always aim for the perfect balance of bright melodies and dark stories. I've used this juxtaposition for years. This time, I've tuned it to high contrast. The first side of the album is generally simple and catchy. The second side is heavier in spirit and tone. Opposing forces and properties. I love both sides of PATCH THE SKY.
At the core of these songs is what I call the chemical chorus'you hear it once and your brain starts tingling. The heart rate picks up. It gets worse'you know it's coming again and you can barely stand the anticipation. Then, the beautifully heartbreaking bridge appears, and you're all set up'hooked for life. Music is an incredibly powerful drug. I want to be your drug dealer. I have what you need. --Bob Mould
Tracklisting:
Side A:
Voices in My Head
The End of Things
Hold On
You Say You
Losing Sleep
Pray For Rain
Side B:
Lucifer and God
Daddy's Favorite
Hands Are Tied
Black Confetti
Losing Time
Monument -
The cliché that circulated after the 2016 election foretold a new artistic golden age: Artists would transform their anger and anxiety into era-defining works of dissent in the face of authoritarianism.Visit product page →
Yet Bob Mould calls his new album Sunshine Rock.
It's not because Mould'whose face belongs on the Mount Rushmore of alternative music'likes the current administration. His decision to 'write to the sunshine,' as he describes it, comes from a more personal place - a place found in Berlin, Germany, where he's spent the majority of the last three years. Here Mould would draw inspiration from the new environments.
'Almost four years ago, I made plans for an extended break,' Mould explains. 'I started spending time in Berlin in 2015, found an apartment in 2016, and became a resident in 2017. My time in Berlin has been a life changing experience. The winter days are long and dark, but when the sun comes back, all spirits lift.'
These three years in Berlin would quite literally shed new light on Mould's everyday mindset.
'To go from [2011 autobiography] See a Little Light to the last three albums, two of which were informed by loss of each parent, respectively, at some point I had to put a Post-It note on my work station and say, Try to think about good things.'Otherwise I could really go down a long, dark hole,' he says. 'I'm trying to keep things brighter these days as a way to stay alive.'
That makes Sunshine Rock as logical a product of the current climate as any rage-fuelled agit-rock. Variations on the word 'sun' appear 27 times in five different songs over the course of the album's 37 minutes. To hear Mould tell it, the theme developed early.
'Sunshine Rock is one hell of a way to wrap up the busiest decade of my career,' he shares. 'The autobiography, the Disney Hall tribute show, reissues of several albums from my catalogue, three current rock band albums, several world tours, and now this new album ' I'm humbled and grateful to still be making new music while celebrating my lifetime songbook.'
Tracklisting:
1. Sunshine Rock
2. What Do You Want Me to Do
3. Sunny Love Song
4. Thirty Dozen Roses
5. The Final Years
6. Irrational Poison
7. I Fought
8. Sin King
9. Lost Faith
10. Camp Sunshine
11. Send Me a Postcard
12. Western Sunset
Release Date: 08/02/2019
