Bob Mould couldn't sound happier about the glowing reception for the miserable album he just put out.
Another hard blast of blue-flame guitar work and boiling-over lyricism, "Patch the Sky" dropped March 25 with the kind of widespread praise that has accompanied each of the ex-Minnesotan rock legend's past three albums — all issued in a quick 3½-year span that we can officially declare another renaissance period in Mould's 35-year career.
The reviews have especially been strong for this one. Rolling Stone, for instance, said it "conjures the ecstatic rage of his earlier bands for a grim new era." Helping him once again was his steady band of the past seven years, with bassist Jason Narducy and Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster, the same trio lineup returning to First Avenue for two shows Friday and Saturday.
And it's not just critics reacting favorably. The new album also landed Mould his first-ever No. 1 ranking in Billboard, albeit on the vinyl sales chart, proving there's continued reverence for the former Hüsker Dü and Sugar singer/guitarist among die-hard musicheads.
"I had no idea that was even a possibility," Mould, 55, said by phone from his home in San Francisco two weeks ago, the day after the chart came out. "It really meant a lot to me. I'm a vinyl guy, too.
"All of the reaction to this record is really a nice surprise, because I was sort of nervous about this one. I guess that's what happens when you spend too much time with yourself, and too much time on the music."
"Patch the Sky" was a tough one to make. It followed the death of Mould's mother as well as a self-described "personal breakdown," which cast him into isolation mode for six months. It was a hermetic scenario much like the period after Hüsker Dü broke up in 1988, out of which came his celebrated solo debut "Workbook." Except this time Mould holed up in one of the biggest cities in America instead of a farm near Pine City, Minn.
Q: How did this solitary-confinement approach in San Francisco compare with working out at the farm on "Workbook"? Is it possible to feel isolated in a city like that?