With Goodbye Bread,Ty Segall released his sixth record since 2008 – all this at the age of 24 – not even counting Split-EPs, singles and earlier band releases. He’s not only very young, he’s also very productive. Nonetheless, Segall’s music doesn’t deserve the the title to which he recently has been elevated: the savior of Rock and Kurt Cobain´s legitimate successor. Of course, every now and then, one can here grunge stepping out of his garage-rock, but then again, one tends to recognize John Lennon’s voice in it as well. The carefree performance reminds listener at other points of Wavves, the stoic bass-lines of the Pixies or the brute strength of The Stooges. Compared to last year’s Melted, the slightly softer Goodbye Bread demonstrates the musical gift of the young man from San Francisco even more impressively: at the low-fi frequencies, in particular, the listener feels the almost imperative need for a melody. It either slowly peels its way through the noise 24 or it suddenly breaks into a composition. Either way: the melody always pops up – and often immediately stays right in the listener’s ear, increasingly with every repetition. Lyric-wise, Sgeall switches between self-disgust in I Am With You and »Oh, you know I love / loving is what I do«. And after the well-behaved farewell »bye bye, see you next time«, that’s really all to hope for. The sooner, the better.
Goodbye Bread
