Bob Mould – District Line

It’s a Bob Mould album so it’s obviously worth a listen, but it has to be said it’s not one of his best. It sits somewhere between the downcast beauty of ‘Black Sheets of Rain’ and the chugging straightforwardness of ‘Life and Times’ on the Mould continuum, but never actually reaches the heights of either. There’s a more acoustic feel at times with the lyrics heartfelt and unusually mellow, but the calm is occasionally punctured with machine gun bursts of pure rock. Sadly, there’s some odd experimentation with a vocoder thrown in for good measure now and again.

It’s an album that’s hard to dislike, but difficult to love. All the tracks have their merits and pleasantly pass the time of day, but there’s  a certain ‘saminess’ to the album that is great for consistency, but strangely risk averse.

Apart from the storming beauty of ‘The Silence between Us’, there’s little to choose between the songs on the album. If I was pushed I’d highlight the pedestrian ‘Minature Parade’, the standard issue mould track ‘Return to Dust’ and the delicate ‘Again and Again’.

It’s one of those albums where if you like the artist you’ll like the LP. If you don’t already like Bob Mould then this is not going to change your mind.