Hey everyone, it's me, Giggens, and I'm back here today to talk about the brand new album from Ty Segall, his 18th studio album, Chrome. 18 albums deep, that is absolutely mind-blowing.

This record finds Ty returning to the group format, and everything you hear on this record is a band recording live, except for apparently one overdub with a guitar, as the rumor goes, but it's seriously impressive. The group of talented individuals helping Ty bring these songs to life are of course his Freedom Band; Ben Boy on keyboards and vocals, Emmett Kelly on guitar, Michael Cronin on bass, and Evan Burrows on drums.

If you're new to Ty Segall's music, the one thing to understand is that he's extremely prolific. The dude can sing it all, play it all, do it all, and the thing that I like the most about him is that no matter how heavy his influences might decorate his sleeves, he's not simply reimagining his favorites or reimagining the stuff he enjoys. Like any decent artist, the music that he loves is so deeply rooted in his DNA, so when you combine that with life experiences, you get some really creative stuff.

Case in point, the album opener, "Hospital", opens with this dizzying array of effects that surround you, and interestingly enough, for me anyway, sound like what Chrome might sound like. It's cold, it's smooth, it's slick, and then the gritty guitars creep in from around the corner, the drums and bass join, and Ty comes in and just soars vocally over this thing.

The track then fully enters garage rock mode with some excellent guitar picking and some wonderful ad-lib licks. The song jams, there's a solo frenzy, it ends with an explosion. Lyrically, there's a lot of great poetry on this, so I'm gonna read this one from my sheet here: "She's like a hospital to me, afraid to sleep, with one eye blinking / I cry like a waiting room for her."

I mean, come on, that's some far out stuff.

"Running to Nowhere" reminds me of like a psychedelic porn crumpet song. This thing just has that manic frenzy energy that I like about them. Guttural guitars, shouting vocals, crashing drums, but just as you're getting used to that feeling, you realize the song changes numerous times repeating these different ideas, and it goes into a much more reflective, almost country rock territory. Not in the sense of like a cheesy country rock, but like if The Byrds were doing it.

That combination of ideas punching against each other gives some really killer texture, and before you know it, the song is kaput at like 2 minutes and 25 seconds.

"Black Paint" is one of my absolute favorites on the record. This song is so cool. It features a wonderful combination of two of my favorite things: heavy riffs and harmonies. You guys know I'm a sucker for harmonies. Another great track that makes excellent use of its more rocking moments, but then having those more reflective moments, it keeps the whole thing constantly interesting.

I really dig the confidence in Ty's vocal delivery on this one, the way he holds these notes so well. But my biggest takeaway from this song — hang with me here – this song sounds like if The Wonders from That Thing You Do were trying to sound like Harvey Danger, and I'm all for it.

"Glass" comes up next, and this offers some really good stabby guitars, a real good fuzzy bottom end. Lyrically, for me, this one is either about a fly or some sort of insect literally landing in a drink and coming to terms with the sonderlust of watching this thing swim, gasping for air. The song grows along really well. The guys really get locked in a groove on this one. There's an excellent rubbery bass and the messy solos are just the cherry on top.

The whole song for me, it kind of lumbers in like a fast-forward fashion where you almost feel like you're lost in thought watching this insect or whatever it might be. In this cup, and you're kind of feeling these feelings about like, oh, I wonder what this thing's thinking of. Maybe it's just as scared of me as I am of it in my drink. Or maybe it's about something entirely different and not about our fly human relationships.

"Play Cowboys" is a really interesting song, and I feel like a pivotal moment on the record because this one, again, plays with a lot of textures, but there's some wonderful peppy drums, there's a great amount of bouncy riffs, but lyrically, I find this song to be about struggles that maybe Ty, or just the protagonist, is facing.

Where he's busted his ass for something, and he's seeing somebody else come in with a similar vibe or sound and having a much more easier time either getting that sound out there or just being accepted by the general public.

I think it's a song about observation and reflection and knowing where you've come from and whether or not you've earned your flowers. Or if the garden gate was open and somebody saw their opportunity. Everything you've been just kicks ass, simply put.

Some awesome vocal moments, great hooks, shrieking guitars, killer drums, killer energy, it's charged up, it's punk, it's rock and roll. This is one that keeps me coming back. I keep trying to figure out what this song might be about the more and more I listen to it, but that chorus medley is a total ear worm.

"Let Go" follows that one up next, and for me, this one might be about technology, it might be about AI, it might be about maybe a different person in your life. It's some sort of controlling force that you feel like you can't get away from, and there might be a point where you either, not necessarily accept it, but tolerate.

There is a line on this song that goes, "The machine now makes dreams of their very own." And that, for me, feels almost very AI-esque, because it's just constantly learning from itself and creating this slop. I don't know, once again, it could be way off on the assessment of this track. It could be about overindulgence, it could be about any number of things. That's one of the things about Ty's songs. You can get lost in his lyrics.

"Separation" is a guitar showcase with some swirly riffs, good chorus vocals, and a wonderful building of tension. I love the tight, jamming band feel on this one. They do an excellent job of locking into grooves on this record, and this track is definitely one of those.

Which brings us to the title track and the album closer, "Chrome." This track delivers some menacing, defiant riffs — really steely and sharp.

This one sounds like 90 miles per hour down the highway, wind in your hair, focused on a mission, and enjoying the thrill of the engine keeping up with your foot on the pedal. That riff almost reminds me of something that Deep Purple would have done. The lyrics are incredibly simple, but highly effective, because there's so much to read into with just a couple simple phrases. "When I died, I was alive" is followed by "when I was alive, I died."

And like many of his cryptic lyrics, there's so much to dig into. This could be a rebirth, it could be a celebration, it could be looking back, it could be a tarot card, it could be any sort of change in your life, whether you're excited about that or not. It could be the end of an era, the end of something that you loved. We don't know.

But what I enjoy the most about that juxtaposition between that lyric and the music is that the music doesn't let up. It's so freaking relentless. You're just on this ride, no matter what. And that could just be the speed of life, because life does move pretty fast.

So Ty, if you watched this video, let me know what this track is about, or a couple of the other ones. Maybe I messed up. Either way, this song just kicks ass. That's an amazing closer.

Chrome is a very cohesive body of work, seriously showcasing the talents of this band, firing on all cylinders, acting like such a locked-in unit.

And to me, the mission statement of this album is the human condition and hoping it doesn't fall off the rails. The song titles are stories alone, like, what do you mean there's a song about a "Hospital?" What does "Play Cowboys" mean? And then a handful of titles focused on the past, like "Let Go," "Separation," "Everything You've Been."

The LP for me is focused on observation, whether that's internal or external. It's very interested in reflection, but nowhere near nostalgic. It's got one foot cheerily tapping in the waters of optimism, but the other foot couldn't be more cemented in reality. It's got a lot to get off its chest, and it's enjoying every breath, even if there are a couple of walls up.

For me, it's one of the best records he's done in a long time. The feel on this one is seriously cool. You want to keep coming back to it because you hear other things in the layers as you discover more, but the energy on this record is just so rad.

I'm feeling a light 8 on this record. Transition.

Yeah. Ty Segall. Forever.