Bob Mould
Blue Hearts

Open letter to Bob Mould.

"What a bomb of an album you’ve put out, my dear Bob!! Just in time to celebrate your sixtieth birthday in a most fitting manner. A year and a few months after the release of Sunshine Rock which, I’m sorry to say, didn’t quite grab me due to its somewhat too light sounds. But with Blue Hearts you show your claws for a furiously unexpected work. You take on your America, against rampant racism, social inequalities, the administration governing you; you don’t hold back with verbal attacks and the music that comes out is instinctive, volcanic, aggressive in at least half of the 14 tracks you put together with your trusty Jason on bass and Jon on drums. With the opener Heart of my Sleeve you enter the album cautiously; you pick up the acoustic guitar and weave two pastoral, velvety minutes. But right after, the razor is drawn, your electric guitar lights the fuse and sets the gunpowder alight. A rapid succession of bursts follows with Next Generation, American Crisis, and Fireball. And I revel in closing my eyes once again and going back to your immense past, to the early eighties and to that Holy band of yours which is a frenzied cult object as far as I’m concerned. But it’s not just about Husker Du, because the references to the Sugar can't escape my damaged ear; in fact, Siberian Butterfly wouldn’t be out of place on the album Copper Blue: here we enter a realm of brisk Power-Pop, without too many embellishments. Two 'hefty' minutes with little choruses that elevate the track to absolute excellence. The pace continues with bursts of irresistible electric power, Password to my Soul, direct attacks to the Trump administration, Baby Needs a Cookie, arriving in just over thirty minutes at the closing The Ocean: a melancholy, gentle start, with your whispered voice. Then the song rises in tone, growing, always maintaining less disruptive contours... with that guitar wall you build at the end that still gives me chills, like many decades ago.

So much beauty...

Once again, thank you Bob..."

Ad Maiora.