Ty Segall

Mr. Face EP

BY Melody LauPublished Jan 10, 2015

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Another year, another Ty Segall release. For a man who has averaged at least two records a year since 2008, Segall is getting his head start in 2015 with two January releases: a Ty Segall Band live album and a brand new EP. While the former provides a reprise of some of Segall's best work in recent years, the latter, titled Mr. Face, propels the San Francisco garage-rock virtuoso forward both creatively and sonically.

For starters, Mr. Face is the world's first pair of playable 3D glasses, a fitting innovation from Segall, whose psychedelic flourishes conjure up outlandishly eye-popping visuals. In any case, it certainly serves as a neat incentive to add to your vinyl collection. The four tracks here also represent a promising step forward for Segall, showing off a succinct amalgamation of the different sounds he has played with on recent albums.

Somewhere between the acoustic murmurs of Sleeper and the electrifying tangents of Manipulator, Mr. Face fuses the two into a state of nirvana as reaffirmed by Segall's constant state of being "alright" on tracks "Mr. Face"("When they sky shines, it'll be alright") and "Circles" ("I told you everything's alright"). Segall appears decidedly more at ease, or even at peace, on the four tracks, but while they build upon acoustic foundations, the tracks quickly take different shapes filled with sublime guitar (and piccolo!) solos that are utterly transfixing. Mr. Face is already an exciting start to the new year for Segall, the beginning of another fruitful year.
(Famous Class)

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