Ty Segall – Freedom’s Goblin
Keeping up with Ty Segall can be hard work! Over the last few years he’s taken garage rock to a whole new level, constantly releasing albums, (around twenty in his own name at the last count), and that doesn’t include the numerous collaborations, or singles and EPs. Then there are the live gigs all over the globe with both his band, and as a member of the numerous other projects he’s involved with. However, when someone is as prolific as he is, there’s always the danger that the quality of songs becomes diluted simply due to the sheer number of ideas and riffs being speedily consumed for each release.
The latest addition to the hefty mountain of Segall’s productivity, Freedom’s Goblin, continues his quest to provide the world with more ear satisfying guitar tunes, and warp them further into new directions. All the hefty guitar sounds are present and correct, yet there’s somehow a greater spectrum of sounds which Ty is drawing from. There’s a great cover of Hot Chocolate’s disco floorfiller ‘Everyone’s A Winner’, which gets extra riffage with Ty getting pretty soulful in his fuzzed up way.
‘My Lady’s On Fire’ starts with a gentler acoustic feel, before those luscious electric guitar lines come strolling in, weaving in and out of the delicate vocal harmonies which don’t sound a million miles away from Marc Bolan and T Rex. Ty’s use of melodies is often overlooked, in favour of his guitar work, which is a shame as he has a great knack for ingenious melodic lines. ‘Alta’ has those mammoth sized guitar lines mingling with his melodic vocals whereas ‘Meaning’ is a full on punked up frenzy of a tune, and ‘The Main Pretender’ has squalling guitars, duelling with all their might and ably assisted by an even mightier cavernous thundering bassline. ‘Freedom’s Goblin’ is further proof of Ty Segall’s prolific songwriting genius.
Whilst not reinventing the wheel, he manages to push the speeding juggernaut of guitar sounds into more intriguing routes than ever, without weakening the song quality one bit. Oh, and by the time you’ve finished reading this review, he’s probably released a new EP and added some riffs and bongos to at least ten different collaborations. Keeping up with Ty Segall maybe hard work, but it’s one of the most rewarding aural adventures you’ll ever do!
Release Date January 26th 2018 (Drag City)
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From the early days of creating handmade zines, in a DIY paper and glue style, interviewing bands around town, then pestering Piccadilly Records to sell them, to writing for various independent mags such as Chimp and Ablaze, writing about the music I love is still a great passion. After testing the music industry waters in London with stints at various labels, being back in my hometown again, writing about this city’s vibrant music scene is as exciting as ever. All time favourite bands include Sonic Youth, Nick Cave, Patti Smith although anything from electro to folk via blues and pysch rock will also do nicely too. A great album, is simply a great album, regardless of whatever musical cage you put it in.
