Bob Mould reconnected with his essential primal roar on 2012's
Silver Age, embracing the endless possibilities of a power trio thanks to his allegiance with drummer
Jon Wurster and bassist
Jason Narducy. A rhythm section every bit as powerful as
Hüsker Dü and as nimble as
Sugar,
Wurster and
Narducy provided a needed anchor when life started to get heavy, as it did shortly after the release of
Silver Age.
Mould's father died, an incident that fueled much of
Beauty & Ruin and, after that album's release in 2014, his mother died, too. Mourning and loss -- not precisely parental, either -- flows through
Patch the Sky, the album that followed
Beauty & Ruin in 2016, but the difference between this and its predecessor is how
Mould summons strength through the pulsing lifeblood of his music. As songs, the 12 tunes on
Patch the Sky often delve into darkness, but it rarely seems as if
Mould is succumbing to gloom. He's resisting, railing against the looming black clouds thanks to a considerable assist from his backing band, a rhythm section that allows him to explode and expand at will. Consequently,
Patch the Sky winds up feeling bracing, even life-affirming, even though much of it finds
Mould staring straight into the abyss, and that's because he finds his sustenance within the act of writing and making music. As the album rolls on, riffs cascade with molten urgency while melodies circle a psychedelic drain, signatures
Mould has sported since the heyday of
Hüsker Dü, but there's a vitality here due the muscle and flexibility of his band. He's found a trio that executes the blasts of fury and the sullen dirges with equal fire and precision; plus they can be playful, as the unexpected syncopation of "Losing Sleep" proves. All this adds up to another midlife triumph from
Mould, a record that harks back to his past while completely occupying the present moment, no matter how uncomfortable or painful that may be. [
Patch the Sky was also released on LP.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine