Mould looks to future to deal with past

Finishing up tour, former Husker Du performs solo at Ark

Saturday, November 12, 2005

BY WILL STEWART
News Special Writer

Bob Mould isn't one to look back.

But, armed with a renewed sense of his own songcraft and a new, guitar-based album earning him the critical raves that have been elusive for the better part of a decade, the former Husker Du frontman is confronting his past.

And, on the heels of a full-band tour that, for the first time, surveyed his work with Husker Du and its follow-up band, Sugar, Mould likes what he hears.
"For years, there has been this pressure to perform all the Husker Du stuff, but it just hasn't made any sense to do that,'' Mould said during a phone conversation from his home in Washington, D.C. "But this year, taking a band out on the road with me for the first time in a long time, it just seemed to make sense.

"I loved it and other people seemed to love it, and that's all that matters.''

But Mould said the shift in perspective has more to do with the present than it does the past. He said the full-band outing, which wrapped up a month ago prior to the solo gig that brings him to The Ark on Wednesday, was a celebration of the new album, "Body of Song,'' and not a tawdry cashing in on past glory.

"People always want a Husker Du reunion, but I try to tell them that what they really want is for me to play the songs the way I hear them now,'' said the singer-guitarist, who has long celebrated his work with the previous bands during solo shows.

Any hopes of a Husker Du reunion were dashed last year when Mould and his old Husker Du bandmate, Grant Hart, performed a tentative duet together at a benefit for Soul Asylum bassist Karl Mueller. Afterward, both Hart and Mould disavowed any further reunions.

"Husker Du was a disaster when it ended, so why in the world would I want to go back to it now that it's all over? To do that is revivalism and you can't revive the past.''

Instead, Mould is excited to talk about "Body of Song,'' which is rightly being hailed as a return to form after his experiments with techno and dance influences on 2002's "Modulate.'' While not abandoning those influences, Mould has crafted a bona fide guitar-and-drums album that occasionally melds bass-heavy club beats into songs of lost love, abandonment, resignation and redemption.

"This is more guitar forward than anything I've done for a while,'' he said. "I think using all the electronic influence in a supporting role makes it more accessible for my older audience.'' While not a concept album, Mould, acknowledges elements of his own life and the lives of his friends enter into the album's dozen tracks. More importantly, he said, is that the record - any record - have a narrative flow.

Even if, typically, the narrative is clouded in mystery.

"I like records that have a beginning and a middle and an end,'' he said. "Because, ultimately, an album tells a story of a little bit of who we are and what we're about.

"At least the good ones do.''