Ty Segall & White Fence Ty Segall & White Fence… Wigging out

Review: Ty Segall & White Fence – Hair

Published on March 19th, 2012 | Jonny Abrams

“Chanting to and from the dome is your living soundtrack and providing the Hairdressing for your psychic salad are Ty Segall and White Fence sitter Tim Presley with Sean Presley and Mikael Cronin along on the carpet ride. It unrolls from within them and in between them, and electricity takes many forms, from poppy lunges to acoustic strolls to freak-downs at end of the side. Hair gets tangled deep in clouds of guitars and drums and counter-riffs and percussion, then pressed flat with harmony vocals and compression. Whatever got them through the night, it launches the ship into the stratosphere. And Hair you are again.”

Safe to say that’s one of the stranger press releases to have arrived in Rocksucker’s inbox, and sure enough this is a sporadically dizzying collection of vintage psychedelia-infused pop nuggets. With crunchy, loud ‘n’ laid back guitars splattering spots of sunlight against the groovy, panned-to-one-side, it is abundantly clear that Segall and co. are in thrall to the ’60s, but they make good use of these influences as opposed to just cynically plundering them.

At its best, Hair is downright mesmerising; the supremely stoned “I Am Not a Game” comes across like Tame Impala impersonating Four Sail-era Love, all blissfully blaring guitars and sun-kissed majesty, while closer “Tongues” places a wonderfully awestruck chord progression atop a thumpingly funky beat before flowering into a swirling, mesmerising psych jam. It’s like a melting pot of The Beta Band‘s “Dry the Rain”, The Olivia Tremor Control‘s “California Demise Pt. 1” and Super Furry Animals“Blerwytirhwng?”, which basically means that it’s fantastic.

The rest of Hair is somewhat patchier yet in the main thick and lustrous enough to keep you running your fingers through it (okay, we’ll stop now); “Easy Ryder” has a prime Guided By Voices feel to it, “Crybaby” is two minutes of gleeful crash-bang-wallop, while “Scissor People” tumbles frenetically and mischievously along like Monster Movie-era Can.

There are some inconsequential moments here – “It’s alright / We are stoned” Segall appears to sing on opener “Time”, and perhaps that was key – but there’s certainly enough about it to keep Rocksucker’s eyes peeled for future activity, of which Segall has promised lots.

Finally, if you dig Hair‘s hallucinatory grooves and reedy, tinnily effected vocals, then check out The Apples in Stereo’s Her Wallpaper Reverie album (here’s a taster). In fact, start immersing yourself in the Elephant 6 right now.

Rocksucker says: Seven Quails out of Ten!

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Hair is out now on Drag City. For more information and a list of live dates, please visit ty-segall.com and whitefenceartcollective.blogspot.com

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About the Author

Editor of Rocksucker and the website's founder, Jonny is passionate about the music he listens to, both good and bad, as well as interviewing his favourite musicians.


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