Those familiar with the decades-spanning oeuvre of Bob Mould—from his pioneering early ’80s work with Hüsker Dü to his solo work in singer-songwriter, electronic, and rock modes, to the deafening pop sparkle of Sugar—might expect a new album bearing the title Silver Age to be a somber and reflective set in the mode of his last album, 2009’s Life and Times…and they’d be way off the mark. 

Silver Age is an intense and concise ten-song blast far more reminiscent of Bob’s latter-day Hüsker Dü output.

“I’d been batting around the idea of another aggressive pop record for some time,” Bob says, “especially as the 20th anniversary of Copper Blue kept getting closer." It’s no surprise, then, that Silver Age careens out of the speakers with a sense of exhilaration that reflects the excitement with which Bob and his live band cranked out the record in a tight whirlwind of a window in early 2012.