Part of the fun of listening to a
Ty Segall album is the anticipation of discovering what he's doing this time around.
Segall's well-documented eclecticism and creative shapeshifting mean you could get an amped-up rock & roll assault, like 2021's
Slaughterhouse, or a subdued, acoustic-based effort like 2022's
"Hello, Hi." 2024's
Three Bells leans more toward the latter than the former, but he doesn't seem interested in establishing a hard-and-fast dividing line for this music.
Marc Bolan has long been one of
Segall's noted influences, and on
Three Bells, he tips his hat to the trippy, slightly bent folky bliss of late-'60s
Tyrannosaurus Rex and the buzzy, glammed-out electric joy of early-'70s
T. Rex, often at the same time, with
Segall layering stacks of guitar skronk over the acoustic groove of his backing tracks. One could credit the easygoing but solid interplay between
Segall and his accompanists for giving this music such an engaging feel, but most of the time,
Segall is backing himself, dubbing bass, drums, and percussion over his stacks of guitar. Now that he has his own studio,
Segall can spend as much time as he wants putting one coat of sound over another, and a careful listen reveals he's not shy about constructing a layer of six-string textures, but he's smart enough to know when to rein himself in, and most of the time,
Three Bells sounds admirably open and dynamic, leaving just enough daylight between the overdubs to allow each to have some personality of its own. Though a few of
Segall's trusted colleagues pop up here and there, including
Emmett Kelly and
Mikal Cronin,
Segall's closest collaborator on
Three Bells is his spouse,
Denée Segall, who was also a member of his side project
the C.I.A.; she co-wrote five songs, sings lead on "Move," and was responsible for the design and photography of the cover. The presence of someone so close to
Segall in his creative process does seem to make a difference, as among the chaos and anxiety of his squabbling electric guitars, there's something solid and soothing in the implacable flow of the acoustic undercurrents, and if the lyrics betray moments of uncertainty and introspection, this is as filled with audible purpose as anyone could hope. 2023 was the rare year in which
Ty Segall didn't get around to releasing an album, so the appearance of
Three Bells in January 2024 bodes well for the creative energies of one of the most interesting figures in indie rock. ~ Mark Deming
