Bob Mould can pen a complex composition with the best songwriters, but the multifaceted gems on his latest album display smaller karat weights with sharper clarity.
On “Here We Go Crazy,” Mould’s 15th studio album, the songs are short and to the point, in keeping with Mould’s desire to “make my case as quickly as possible.” When Mould shares them Friday night at the Southern Café and Music Hall in Charlottesville, listeners will notice his crisp approach right away.
“It’s very direct, and a lot less ornamentation than normal,” Mould told The Daily Progress, speaking of the new collection. “This record was very direct songwriting and not a lot of tinsel. Sometimes the story is simple. Keep the song simple.”
The streamlined approach is a departure from earlier albums on which the veteran of landmark bands Hüsker Dü in the 1980s and Sugar in the 1990s didn’t always avoid the trap of “over-demoing” while layering appealing sounds.
“Sometimes, especially in the writing stages, I can go really deep with things,” Mould said. “It’s, again, a lot of fun for me, but I get hooked on the sound. It was nice to sort of let go of that and focus on the song.”
With the new material, “I put a lot of thought into it,” Mould said. “My job is to try to boil it into two minutes.”
If the new songs’ brevity resonates with fans of the punk era, so will the subject matter. Mould said that troubling current events remind him of an earlier era as “a closeted queer kid in a wild world.” He was 20 then, “back in Hüsker Dü and getting up and running at a crazy time. The kind of things that haunt me these days, because we’re seeing them again.”
Mould’s storytelling approach started early, in a stellar era for sparkling, melodic pop music.
“I think, as a child and obsessed with ‘60s pop as it was happening, that was one of my touchstones,” Mould said. “Harmonies and melodies.”
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During the punk era of the 1970s and 1980s, the straightforward sound of the Ramones and the “universal, gender-free love songs” of the Buzzcocks resonated with him. Back then, against the backdrop of the spread of HIV and the impact of President Ronald Reagan’s policies at home and abroad, short clarion calls landed in hearts and minds.
Mould is dismayed to see the need for such songs again, but he understands, and he’s ready to step up. He tightened up his songwriting for “Workbook,” his 1989 solo debut, and didn’t look back.
The sense of “déjà vu all over again” in the current sociopolitical climate and the steady erosion of rights “is very upsetting,” Mould said. “I do know how we arrived at this place; I don’t know why some people are settling for it. It’s not good for the country. It’s not good for the world.”
He understands that it’s easy for distracted, stressed people to miss the cultural concerns he sings about.
“A lot of Americans are living in information deserts. They’re too busy to understand what’s at stake and how it’s going to affect them,” Mould said.
That’s where songwriters come in. Especially keen observers who’ve seen this stuff before and have some perspective.
“I have the luxury of staying informed,” said Mould, now 64. “I try to share these thoughts with audiences. I try to just share my story and just highlight things that happened in the past, and what might happen now.”
Mould’s previous Charlottesville appearances have included the University of Virginia in 1987; the defunct Trax in 1990, 1991 and 1998; and the former Gravity Lounge in 2007 and 2011.
He and his band, featuring drummer Jon Wurster and bassist Jason Narducy, performed on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” soon after returning to the U.S. Mould also delivered a commencement speech at his alma mater, Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minneapolis. At the school where he first founded Hüsker Dü, he picked up an honorary doctorate.
“It was pretty mind-boggling,” Mould said. “I don’t know what I did to achieve such a great honor.”
Jane Dunlap Sathe (434) 978-7249
jsathe@dailyprogress.com
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