Hüsker Dü
New Day Rising

THE REVIEW

“New Day Rising” is certainly an imperfect album. It comes after a masterpiece of alternative rock like “Zen Arcade,” an album that went far beyond the confines of American hardcore punk, with truly innovative sonic openings for the genre, a true bolt of lightning in the rather stereotyped landscape of 80s “college rock.” However, Husker Du never went to college. They came from the suburbs of Minneapolis and knew very well the harshness of a fast and desperate adolescence, spent on violent streets and in stinky garages strumming Black Flag songs. The “cool” city was on the other side of the St. Paul River. However, the three boys quickly figured out how to escape their suburban prison, and concert after concert, they screamed their rage far beyond frozen Minnesota. Then, thanks to the wonderful SST, came an almost unexpected album like “Zen Arcade,” a happy fusion of punk, psychedelia, and avant-garde rock. Well, six months later, Husker Du releases the album that brings everyone home.

“New Day Rising” wastes no time recovering that sense of hardcore tension right from the start with the title track that characterized the early albums, and in this sense, it takes no prisoners. There's not much room here for psychedelic excursions or acoustic guitars like in “Never Talking to You Again.” Here, they hit the ground running and return to the band's hardcore punk roots, far from any pop-oriented compromise and close to the early fans who, after “Zen Arcade,” demanded their dose of aggression. A difficult but not regressive choice. Certainly a reunion imposed by Bob Mould, who kept a tight rein on Grant Hart's taste for "songwriting" and the latter's desire to reach the more reassuring (and better-paid) shores of indie rock. However, Grant still carves out his space in “New Day Rising,” and his pop orientation triumphs like never before! In the extraordinary and desperate “Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill,” for example, or in the improbable but highly infectious “Books About UFOs.” Almost everything else is in Bob's hands, but don't talk to me about a “step back,” please. In “New Day Rising,” the songs are among the best the boys have ever written, brimming with pathos (“Celebrated Summer,” a true classic), at times absolutely overwhelming (“Plans I Make,” delirious) and always strong and moving (“Perfect Example,” with that arpeggio stolen from the “Mary Tyler Moore” theme song). Essentially a new compositional finesse that demonstrates Mould's great ability to write songs with a capital S and that of his alter ego Grant to preserve melody in the cathartic roar of the guitars.

The final effect is powerful. “New Day Rising” is a saturated and extremely noisy album, and I don't even know if this was Husker Du's intention in 1985 or the choice imposed by Spot, an oft-tolerated producer at SST. The fact is that when the album ends, you feel lighter and free from the roaring sonic euphoria. For this reason, “New Day Rising” is not at all an easy album to listen to. In fact, I would say that the entire work's limitation and imperfection lie precisely in the conscious choice that it was easier to take refuge among the noisy hardcore delusions than to tackle more “organized” the melodic intelligence that Husker Du will soon prove to be masters of. In any case, “New Day Rising” sets the course for all those bands that will choose to merge furious noise and melody, a conflicting album in the search for the right balance between the two components, an album without smiles and at times almost desperate, never giving up. An (im)perfect sonic storm that overwhelms, disturbs, and at times takes your breath away. But it definitely leaves its mark.