Despite his prolific output, each Ty Segall record has focused on one aspect that the young SoCal native does very well. Early albums like Lemons and Melted introduced Segall’s garage-punk shriek to the wider world; 2011’s Goodbye Bread showed off his pop side; last year’s Sleeper even found Segall wringing psychedelic intensity from just an acoustic guitar and a 4-track. You could amass a pretty incredible playlist by picking and choosing from his myriad releases, but Segall has decided to do us one better. Manipulator, out August 26, features the many sounds of Segall, all packed into a cohesive double album.
Segall spent almost a year crafting the record, his longest stretch of time between releases yet. The care shows: whereas past releases jolted under waves of lo-fi distortion, Manipulator burns slowly, capturing Segall’s sound somewhere between the garage and a slick studio. Glam rock, heavy metal, punk, folk, and psychedelia rub shoulders; at times, Manipulator sounds like a survey of the past five decades of rock-and-roll. And at the center of it all is Segall, whose raspy charm is contagious. There’s a lot to like in songs like “Susie Thumb,” where headbangers and pop enthusiasts can join forces hand-in-hand. An audacious artist has made his most audacious statement yet.
Catch Ty Segall at the Mohawk on Friday, September 5.
