Three Bells

Album review

Ty Segall is one of the most prolific and cracked savants working in pop music.  Hyped in his official bio as a "singer/guitarist/puzzled panther" who goes on "trips," his multi-hued, perpetual-motion journey is rarely less than charismatic.  On his latest missive, Three Bells, Segall has composed a 15 song cycle, creating along the way, "a claustrophobic/paranoia vibe."  Pink Floyd is an obvious influence in "Void," which abruptly turns midsong into a Beatles meets Sabbath number as he sings, "While I can feel air/ I know the stones are there/ To reach the other side I look behind the wall." A picked guitar figure, a funk bass line and a recurring wail make "I Hear" another cryptic success.  The strummed acoustic guitars, sunny midsection, and "just keep singing" break of "To You" have the thrown-together-at-a-moments-notice feel that Segall often works to his advantage. As a modern inheritor of Marc Bolan's sense of glam and whimsy, Segall indulges himself in "Hi Dee Dee" where siren-like guitars ask unanswerable questions in an insistent chime. "My Best Friend" is the garage rock that has always been a part of Segall's bag, only with a more diverse arrangement that gives it bounce.  There's a slow metal guitar grind in "Move," which features vocals of Segall’s wife Denée and drumming reminiscent of Keith Moon.  Although Segall plays most of the instruments and co-produced and co-engineered the record with Cooper Crain, frequent collaborators Emmett Kelly (guitar, bass), Ben Boye (keys), Mikal Cronin (bass) and Charles Moonhart (drums) contribute their particular voices throughout. Finally, "My Room" is as close to an overarching artistic manifesto for Segall: "I've heard nothing/ I'll just keep waiting by my door/ In case I hear you knocking/ Out there I am nothing/ I am something inside my room." © Robert Baird/Qobuz