Rating: 10/10
By Kieran Webber
Ty Segall is somewhat of a rock chameleon that has the amazing ability to shapeshift into a variety of roles and sounds. However, he always remains true to his core of blending ferocious garage rock with classic rock elements, even in side-projects such as Fuzz and Goggs the recognizable magic touch of Ty remains. Although personally I have always felt that Ty is at his most refined with his solo projects such as Ty Segall and The Freedom Band and The Ty Segall Band and as just Ty Segall.
His most recent endeavour ‘Freedom’s Goblin’ is arguably his strongest work to date as well as his most coherent. The 19 track goliath is a mix of Ty’s retrospective sound that blends punk, classic rock and psychedelia. The album is full to the brim with hook laden tracks, tangent driven solos and excessive amounts of energy. However, it’s not much of the same for Ty, throughout the album you are invited to feast on a bout of new sounds, it feels like Ty has allowed his brain to be splattered across the record like never before.
Opening with the ferocious ‘Fanny’, a track awash in a heavy hook backed by a wall of brass that helps drive the tracks riffs to an almost melting point. The opener is excessive in it’s swagger, especially as it is a song about Ty’s dog. Yet following track ‘Rain’ withdraws the energy and sprawls into a world of psychedlia, reminiscent of The Beatles. It’s an element to Ty’s work that has always bemused me, he has a way of bringing serenity throughout his albums, one track will melt your lips right off your face and the next could be a beautifully crafted jaunt into serenity. This is heard several times over through the album with tracks such as ‘My Lady’s On Fire’, an acoustic ramble (again with added trumpet to spice things up) that is utterly beautiful.
Watch/listen to ‘Fanny’ on The Conan Show here:
‘Freedom’s Goblin’ is constantly boasting Ty’s range as an artist, especially with the cover of Hot Chocolates ‘Every 1’s A Winner’, Ty manages to blend his distorted guitar into the hit disco song in a way that superb, it still carries the same amount of groove and funk as the original, but with that distinctive Ty sound. This diversity and funk is continued through to the following track ‘Despoiler of Cadaver’, which carries a sound that I have not heard from anything Ty has ever released.
‘Freedom’s Goblin’ has everything you could ever want from Ty Segall, simple yet stunning acoustic tracks with Lennon-esque vocals to the face melting riffs that Ty has become known for. Through ‘Freedom’s Goblin’ you can hear a range of influences new and old, in tracks such as ‘Cry, Cry, Cry’ there is an almost distinct Harry Nilsson infuence. In the closing track ‘And, Goodnight’ you can hear Pink Floyd and Neil Young and in ‘She’ you can hear elements of Black Sabbath. All these elements are typical of Ty Segall yet are somehow fresh, Ty feels more confident in his music than ever before and it is really showing, through the composition to the vocals down to the songwriting. Ty has become a master of his craft and although it is clear who influenced him he has now made his own notorious sound. ‘Freedom’s Goblin’ could be his Magnum Opus but with his work rate we could see another album of this caliber in the next few months.
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