Sugar - FILE UNDER: EASY LISTENING ((Vinyl))

Sugar: Bob Mould (vocals, guitar); David Barbe (vocals, bass); Malcolm Travis (drums).
Recorded at Meridian Studio, Leon Springs, Texas and Cedar Creek Recording, Austin, Texas.
Sugar: Bob Mould (guitar, vocals), David Barbe (bass, vocals), Malcolm Travis (drums).
Recorded at Meridian Studio, Leon Springs, Texas and Cedar Creek Recording, Austin, Texas.
All songs written by Bob Mould, except "Company Book" (David Barbe).
With the exception of his solo debut WORKBOOK, Bob Mould's general modus operandi has remained the same since his halcyon days with Husker Du: thick guitars, impassioned lyrics, and brilliant chorus-intense melodies. But on that 1989 set Mould stepped back from Husker's pop-core explosions, and fully embraced the acoustic, folky cadences that had always been present in his songwriting. He has since plugged himself back in, and has continued to wear his heart on his lyrical sleeve. Yet Mould has never gone back to breaking land speed records, relying instead on muscular post-punk shuffles.
FILE UNDER: EASY LISTENING is full of these serious-minded mid-tempo songs that are growing to be new Mould trademarks. Both "Gift" and "Gee Angel" use inspired riffing to reel in the listeners, yet they keep 'em through brooding generalized discourses on innocence. Even a seemingly harmless bubblegum romance lyric like "Your Favorite Thing" has a masked sense of dread in a few couplets.
So rather than explode in "Divide And Conquer"-like rage, Mould now prefers to expose his raving sensibilities only partially--like an intense sun seeping through a thick cloud. And while some may take this as a sign that one of post-punk's venerable minds is growing old, others prefer to call it maturity.

• RSD Release Date: DDD
• Genre: Pop