Years of addiction tend to obscure
Grant Hart's considerable strengths as a songwriter, a situation not helped by his erratic post-
Hüsker Dü work. After 1999's
Good News for Modern Man,
Hart drifted away, spending some time as a musician for hire but generally existing outside the spotlight, taking a full decade to return with
Hot Wax, his third solo album and easily his richest collection of songs to date.
Hart hasn't abandoned the buzzing guitars that have defined much of his music since the days of
Dü, but he's certainly downplayed them, preferring to ramp up a latent baroque pop obsession and spend some quiet, intimate moments with just a keyboard or two. There's variety here, and also craft, a bracing and overdue reminder that there were two excellent songwriters in
Hüsker Dü. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine