In 1998, after the release of his album
The Last Dog and Pony Show
,
Bob Mould
announced he was hanging up his electric guitar and exploring other musical avenues outside of
rock & roll
. More than a few fans expressed some trepidation about
Mould
's career choice, and that buzz became a roar after
released
Modulate
in 2002, which found him diving head first into
electronic
music. At least in America, the vast majority of
rock
fans have not been able to come to terms with the rise of
electronica
, and regardless of the album's virtues or flaws, few listeners were willing to look past the hard, kinetic surfaces of the music and give the songs a fair hearing. It would appear this prejudice did not escape
's notice, as 2005's
Body of Song
was widely hyped as
's return to
, complete with electric guitars and a live rhythm section. But a spin of the album suggests the album isn't so much a step back to the sound he pioneered in
Huesker Due
and
Sugar
as an attempt to have things both ways. (The fact that
spins regularly at a dance club in Washington, D.C., suggests he hasn't lost interest in
music as a creative form.) Many of the cuts on
sound as if
is still thinking club music, but is filtering it through the framework of a three-piece
band;
"(Shine Your) Light Love Hope,"
"Always Tomorrow,"
"I Am Vision, I Am Sound"
are dominated by echoed textures, lockstep rhythms, and vocoder-processed vocals that wouldn't be out of place on a
house
track, but with a live drummer (
Brendan Canty
from
Fugazi
on most tracks, who is predictably excellent) and
adding a layer of guitar over the top. And while
frequently bellows his lyrics with an approximation of the fury of his best-known work, most of the songs on
deal with deeply problematic relationships and on paper speak more of sorrow, confusion, and misplaced hope than the rage suggested by the bitter wailing he uses to bring them across.
ultimately feels more like an attempt by
to please both his audience and himself than a coherent and confident effort; while it's hardly a failure, it lacks the courage of the admittedly flawed
while falling short of the power of his masterpieces with
, existing in a strange middle ground that doesn't do this talented artist many favors, though there's enough emotional resonance in quieter tunes such as
"High Fidelity"
"Gauze of Friendship"
to remind you he still has plenty to offer when he knows where he's going. [The dichotomy between
's electric vs.
influences just gets stronger on the album's deluxe edition, which along with special packaging includes a nine-track bonus disc. The extra disc offers up two groove-oriented tunes (
"Castor and Pollux"
"Love Escalator"
), three reflective acoustic-oriented numbers (
"Lowdown Ground,"
"My Old Friend,"
"Nihil"
), one charging rocker (
"Surveyors and Cranes"
), and three fully electronic remixes of
cuts.] ~ Mark Deming