At this point, the name Ty Segall has become almost synonymous with prolific. Just last year, he released three albums and started 2013 by announcing yet another project – Fuzz – that’s set to release its debut album in September. Before we get too ahead of ourselves, however, Segall released another album under his own name on August 20. Sleeper is different from the Ty Segall we’ve come to know and the change came with a price. Within the last year, Segall lost his father to cancer and subsequently had a bad falling out with his mother (whom he says he’s no longer on speaking terms with). While I would normally consider these events to be personal and incidental to the evaluation of an artist’s album, the effect they’ve had on Segall’s sound in Sleeper is too obvious to ignore them.
The ’60s and ’70s hooks and melodies that he’s always tweaked for the modern ear are still present in Sleeper, but the album reveals a more introspective, subtler side of Segall. This album is driven by acoustic strums and cathartic lyrics. Emotional and cathartic as they may be, they expertly refrain from becoming overly sentimental to the point of sap. Rather than revealing every intimate detail of his emotions, Segall seems to be tipping his hat to grief. As an audience, we’re even occasionally given access to his familiar dialogues as he sings to his sister in “Crazy:” “Oh, little one / don’t forget where you come from / You and me, we are one / you the little one / ’cause he’s here, he’s still here.”
Sleeper, however, is not just a subtler or quieter version of Segall’s previous releases. On tracks like “6th St.” and “The West” we hear him playing with some folk and country vibes. The former includes some slide guitar while the latter has a charming upbeat country riff that concludes the reflective album on a very hopeful note. The record is being credited as a total change for the young (only 26!) musician, but some things about Segall’s songwriting and albums never change. Songs like “Sleeper” and “Sweet C.C.” his vocals still have that raw vocal buzz. Also characteristic to his earlier work, Segall crafted this album almost seamlessly. The ebbs and flows of Sleeper are perfectly situated keeping to pace of the album alive. Once again, Ty Segall has proven that whatever he does, he does it right.
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