Album Review: Bob Mould – Here We Go Crazy

Let’s make one thing clear: Bob Mould has nothing left to prove. As the former frontman of punk legends Hüsker Dü, 90’s power pop cult band Sugar, and an accomplished solo artist, Mould has earned the love and respect of his piers 10x over. Yet on his fifteenth solo album, Mould is still, in his own words “refining my primary sound and style through simplicity, brevity, and clarity.” Here We Go Crazy meets Mould’s goal; a tight collection of ferocious punk rock, anthemic power pop, and a couple quiet acoustic moments, all wrapped up in under four minutes.

Opener and first single “Here We Go Crazy” is a perfect, dynamic throwback to Mould’s Sugar days; big anthemic guitars, layered melodic vocals and a soaring power pop chorus. On the other end of the Mould spectrum is second single “Neanderthal”, a brazen and fast number, with Jon Wurster providing unrelenting drumming as Mould paints a “fight or flight” narrative, with lyrics setting up an unsettling anxiety (“The devil you thought you knew had broken free”).

It’s not always easy to discern the lyrics in these louder songs, with the mix favoring the music over the vocals. From what I could make out lyrically here, many of these songs revolve around the trauma and pain that can be birthed from relationships. The heavy “Breathing Room” finds Mould narrating from the POV of someone falling apart following a relationship’s fracturing. Though as is often the case on Here We Go Crazy, the songs find glimmers of hope in the darkness, as the protagonist here finds a place where he’s “safe inside his breathing room”. There’s an intensity to many of these tracks, such as the fierce “Fur Mink Augurs” or revved-up “Sharp Little Pieces”. The latter is a highlight on the album, with its dark atmosphere and Mould shouting memorable lines like “misery makes me feel alive” and “be the martyr of a generation”.

Despite moments like these, Mould isn’t trying to drag anyone down. He’s purely empowering on “You Need to Shine”, and the acoustic “Lost or Stolen” finds Mould in a more reflective place that I can certainly relate to (“Am I living on the edge of collapse?”). The songs here are clearly written by someone who has known love and heartbreak, and has explored the pain and joys of each. “When Your Heart is Broken” is surprising upbeat and uptempo, even has Mould dives inward (“When your heart is broken you can’t find the will to speak”).

The album closes with the alt rock power ballad “Thread So Thin”, swelling with 90’s grunge guitars, and the half-stripped, half-stadium love song “Your Side”. A future punk rock Valentine’s Day standard, Mould sets aside the fear, apprehension and trauma littering the other songs on the album to find a little bliss and happiness in the love he’s found (“if the world is going down in flames, I want to be by your side”).

These are the types of songs Bob Mould fans will flock to, and which the man does so well. Mould is a master of the craft, and still going strong after all these years. The album is out tomorrow, March 7th, everywhere. You can listen to the first two singles here.