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Aug 29, 2013 Web Exclusive By Susannah Young

Most ink spilled about Ty Segall takes care to point out how young he is—and further, how being around him is like being around a restless teenager drawing band logos in his Trapper Keeper. The notion of changing or reinventing oneself is inextricably tied to youth. At a certain point, we lose momentum or interest in revising how we present ourselves and our ideas. But that hasn’t happened to Segall. And it’s a testament to his talent that the various veins of creativity he taps—Ty the ‘70s arena rocker, Ty who pans for Millennial Nuggets, Ty of pensive lo-fi psychedelia—still add up to one unique and cohesive vision.

It’s a bit much to say Sleeper is a softer side of Segall, but the album is contemplative and introspective in a way that we’re not used to hearing from him (at least not since 2011’s Goodbye Bread). His affinity for inserting the mystical into the mundane remains intact, though. Album highlight “The Keepers” begins with a man confronting himself in the mirror and evolves into a meditation on youth solidarity in the face of a crumbling world. Latter-day Britpop-channeling “The Man Man” imagines sound taking a Fantastic Voyage style trajectory through the body. Neil Young-indebted porch swing blues song “6th Street” uses a friendly slide guitar to mask an unsettling fever dream-esque kidnapping tale.

Listening to Segall evolve has been a truly enjoyable experience—and hearing what he can do after slowing the pace of his creative output has proven even more exciting. Sleeper closes with “The West,” a downright poppy folk number that’s all about going home but still feeling restless. Though it’s well-trod songwriting ground, it’s a great metaphor for Segall’s career—and listening to Segall write his way home continues to be exciting. (www.ty-segall.com)

Author rating: 8/10