Bob Mould has announced the release of of his new full-length arrives via Merge Records on Friday, September 25, via Merge Records. The announcement of Mould’s solo LP Blue Hearts, comes along with the lead-single, “American Crisis,” available now for streaming and download.

“‘American Crisis’ is a tale of two times,” says Mould. “Past Time and Present Time. The parallels between 1984 and 2020 are a bit scary for me: telegenic, charismatic leaders, praised and propped up by extreme Evangelicals, either ignoring an epidemic (HIV/AIDS) or being outright deceitful about a pandemic (COVID-19).” From today through June 7, all of the proceeds from “American Crisis” will benefit OutFront Minnesota and Black Visions Collective.

Blue Hearts has been described as the most directly confrontational work of the artist’s four-decade career, a 14-track collection described by its creator as “the catchiest batch of protest songs I’ve ever written in one sitting.” Produced by Mould at Chicago’s famed Electrical Audio with longtime collaborator Beau Sorenson engineering, the album – which once again features backing from the crack rhythm section of drummer Jon Wurster and bassist Jason Narducy – nods to the veteran singer-songwriter’s groundbreaking past while remaining firmly planted in the issues of the day. “American Crisis,” written initially for SUNSHINE ROCK but deemed “too heavy” by its writer – spits plainspoken fire at the people who fomented this catastrophic moment in history: “I never thought I’d see this bullshit again / To come of age in the ’80s was bad enough / We were marginalized and demonized / I watched a lot of my generation die / Welcome back to American crisis.”

Blue Hearts is fueled by a pervasive sense of déjà vu, its angry anthems of today equally informed by his experiences and memories of the early 1980s. Back then, Mould was a self-described “22-year-old closeted gay man” touring with the one and only Hüsker Dü as AIDS consumed his community. Leaders – including the one in the White House – seemed content to let the epidemic kill a generation. No wonder Bob Mould found his mind wandering back…

“We have a charismatic, telegenic, say-anything leader being propped up by evangelicals,” he says. “These fuckers tried to kill me once. They didn’t do it. They scared me. I didn’t do enough. Guess what? I’m back, and we’re back here again. And I’m not going to sit quietly this time and worry about alienating anyone.”

Bob Mould
Blue Hearts
Merge Records
Track Listing

TRACKLISTING
Heart on My Sleeve
Next Generation
American Crisis
Fireball
Forecast of Rain
When You Left
Siberian Butterfly
Everyth!ng to You
Racing to the End
Baby Needs a Cookie
Little Pieces
Leather Dreams
Password to My Soul
The Ocean

Pre-order Blue Hearts here