Ty Segall
Sleeper
Drag City
Rating: 3 out of 3 stars
The King of Fuzz has gone unplugged. Segall, the hardest-working man in garage punk, takes a left turn on his new record, playing solo acoustic pretty much the whole way, apart from some muted percussion, one snar ling electric-guitar solo (on the hard acoustic blues “The Man Man”), and some strings. Damned if the move doesn’t pay off, high lighting Segall’s gift for melody—a trait sometimes obscured by the storm clouds of distortion so prevalent in his other projects. He effortlessly recasts himself as a bluesy, psychedelic troubadour with a knack for hooks and soulful, insistent strum ming that lifts his spare tunes to a high plane. These tracks sound both fresh and like they were reclaimed from a bygone era. It’s a neat trick, and perhaps a perfect palate-cleanser before Segall’s next project, a Black Sabbath– influenced power trio called—what else?—Fuzz