Music Review: Ty Segall

By Dylan Cetrulo

As a name synonymous with garage rock over the past decade, San Francisco-based multi-instrumentalist Ty Segall has been one of the most prolific musicians of recent times just by sheer productivity. Coming off of his most experimental project yet, The Muggers, with their 2016 release Emotional Mugger. While Emotional Muggers was not exactly a completely new Segall, this self-titled album is much more of a return to the work fans have recognized Segall for. Fans of Segall’s previous work know that he is not afraid to wear his influences on his sleeve, namely the classic rock acts of the 60s and 70s older generations have grown up with (Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, etc.). You can feel the power emanating from each overdriven guitar riff and solo. The lyrics speak of rock-stardom, unbridled freedom, and drug trips; paired with softer odes to lovers and lyrics critiquing others world views.

This is the second self-titled release of Segall’s, the first one being his debut album in 2008. You can really see the growth of Segall as a musician when comparing these two albums. The some of the songs on this record are the most interesting we have seen from Ty. Note the some, however. While there are tracks like Warm Hands, a 10-minute long jam session switching between multiple musical ideas in a frenzy, they are weighed down by some very uninspired songs. The album opens up with possibly the weakest song on the album in Break a Guitar, an incredibly standard rock song that anyone who has listened to Ty Segall’s work has heard countless times. Overall, I would consider this album a solid release for fans of Ty Segall, and more generally fans of classic rock acts of the 60s and 70s.

Favorite tracks: Warm Hands, Papers

Least Favorite tracks: Break a Guitar, Freedom