Description

2023 Repress.

The cliché that circulated after the 2016 election foretold a new artistic golden age: Artists would transform their anger and anxiety into era-defining works of dissent in the face of authoritarianism.
Yet Bob Mould calls his new album Sunshine Rock.

Its not because Mouldwhose face belongs on the Mount Rushmore of alternative musiclikes the current administration. His decision to write to the sunshine, as he describes it, comes from a more personal place a place found in Berlin, Germany, where hes spent the majority of the last three years. Here Mould would draw inspiration from the new environments.

Almost four years ago, I made plans for an extended break, Mould explains. I started spending time in Berlin in 2015, found an apartment in 2016, and became a resident in 2017. My time in Berlin has been a life changing experience. The winter days are long and dark, but when the sun comes back, all spirits lift.
These three years in Berlin would quite literally shed new light on Moulds everyday mindset.

To go from [2011 autobiography] See a Little Light to the last three albums, two of which were informed by loss of each parent, respectively, at some point I had to put a Post-It note on my work station and say, Try to think about good things. Otherwise I could really go down a long, dark hole, he says. Im trying to keep things brighter these days as a way to stay alive.

That makes Sunshine Rock as logical a product of the current climate as any rage-fuelled agit-rock. Variations on the word sun appear 27 times in five different songs over the course of the albums 37 minutes. To hear Mould tell it, the theme developed early.

Sunshine Rock is one hell of a way to wrap up the busiest decade of my career, he shares. The autobiography, the Disney Hall tribute show, reissues of several albums from my catalogue, three current rock band albums, several world tours, and now this new album Im humbled and grateful to still be making new music while celebrating my lifetime songbook.