Bob Mould
Modulate
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As you may have heard, Bob Mould’s latest is a bit of a departure for the former Husker Du/Sugar front man. Whether it’s a one-off detour or the first step in a new direction remains to be seen. But Modulate certainly sounds like an artist breaking free creatively.

Mould recorded the record entirely by himself starting in 1999 after finishing a tour for 1998’s The Last Dog and Pony Show. It was after that tour that Mould, complaining of exhaustion and hearing loss, announced he was abandoning loud electric guitar performances. He then took a break to work as a creative consultant for Turner Broadcasting’s World Championship Wrestling (you mean it’s all fake and scripted? I’m shocked). When he returned to the album in 2000, it was with some new tools and new influences. Sequencers and drum machines became his weapons of choice to recreate the trance and techno music he found himself enjoying.

The swirling synths of Modulate’s opening track “180 Rain” are the first indicator that we’re in a different zip code from Husker Du’s post punk roar or Sugar’s occasionally dark, stripped-down power pop. When the vocals come in, they sound as fake and processed as Cher’s do on that song “Believe.” But you can tell Mould is having tons of fun manipulating these new sounds. He’s like the proverbial kid in the candy store. The lyrics here, as on much of the album, tease you with revelation but are ultimately disposable and secondary to the sonic landscape. “Generally, I’m not the kind of guy who likes to kiss and tell,” he sings. “But everyone wants to know the story—oh well, oh well.”

“Sunset Safety Glass” has a more rhythmic and melodic underpinning but the electronic frippery is still disorienting like much trance and techno music. “Feel my head get trapped inside a tangle of wires,” he sings, expressing both his new mad scientist musical philosophy as well as the experience for the listener. But when the chorus kicks in, you can tell that underneath there somewhere is a quintessential Mould song.

A conventional Bob Mould song also seems to want to emerge from “Semper Fi,” despite its nearly indecipherable vocal (a lyric sheet is helpfully provided). And if Robert Pollard of Guided By Voices was left in a studio too long, he might come up with something like this. “Listen, I don’t care if you believe me,” he sings. “Don’t stop and don’t hesitate / And you can do anything until / The novocaine wears off of me.”

The record is broken up by three clamorous experimental noise pieces called “Homecoming Parade”, “Without?”, and “Hornery” which further contribute to the listener’s disorientation and the record’s weird atmosphere.

The manufactured stutter step techno beats, whirring sounds and backward whooshings of “Lost Zoloft” surround a provocative but enigmatic lyric. “You think you know the animal until you strike a certain nerve / A latent homosex become so violent when provoked and now obscured,” Mould sings.

The first recognizably Mould-ian guitar and drum sounds pop up for the first time on “Slay/Sway” which starts off sounding like a harder rocking Depeche Mode song. Although more swirling synths bookend “The Receipt,” it too has guitars and drums and a touch of a simple Husker Du-like melody. “I took the high road for too long / And I still hate your favorite song / So let there be no doubt / What this one’s all about,” he sings.

Of course it’s inevitable that on such a techno-influenced album Mould should delve into astronomy and sci-fi as he does on “Quasar.” Fortunately, it’s not as goofy as it could have been. Mould talk-sings in a monotone, computer-like voice like something off an old Kraftwerk record.

“Soundonsound” is another more melody-based tune. We’re more on terra firma here. This one might even have worked as a Sugar track.

“Come On Strong” on the other hand may be the track that succeeds best at incorporating Mould’s new sonic palette with his more familiar style. “We try to find the balance / We try to keep it straight / We try to stay in tune / We modulate,” he sings, as if to prove my point.

A more danceable variety of melodic synth pop can be heard on “Trade,” which you may find hard to believe began life as a Husker Du song. It’s one of the strongest and most accessible tunes on the record. “The answer lies within your soul / May you receive an unexpected reward,” Mould sings. “Rely on instinct in times of trouble / Let all confusion be ignored.”

The clanging piano chord-laden “Author’s Lament” concludes the record with perhaps a statement of purpose for Mould’s latest musical excursion: “Inside this box, I spend most of my days creating lucid rhymes / In hope that something I write gives freedom to clarity.”

In fact freedom is the most audible sound on Modulate. Mould has released the album on the label collective United Musicians, which was founded by Aimee Mann and Michael Penn, who’ve had their share of troubles with major record labels. It’s probably fair to assume that had Mould taken Modulate to one of the increasingly bottom-line fixated major labels he would have heard that time tested argument, “Um, Bob we don’t hear a single.” Given a chance at creative freedom here, Mould has certainly taken the ball and run with it. He also plans to release another electronica-based album later this year along with a more conventional acoustic-based set. But it’s clear from the sound of Modulate that Mould will continue to be a vital artist into a third decade.

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