Former Husker Du/Sugar lead singer Bob Mould has some sonic sins to atone for. In 2002 after hanging up his guitar, supposedly for good, Mould told anyone who would listen that he was through with the rock, and that he was going to concentrate on more electronic DJ heavy material. Mould followed through with that proclamation in the form of Modulate - a confused, vocoder-heavy Godawful electronic mess that could very well have been the nail in the coffin of his career. Mercifully, Mould has resurfaced this year with the rock-heavy Body Of Song - his first album for Yep Roc Records, the label that has made a name for itself by taking artists languishing on (or near) their career death-beds (see Robyn Hitchcock, Chris Stamey, Ken Stringfellow, etc.) and restoring them to mid-season form.

What's quite surprising is that Body Of Song is Mould's most rocking album since his early 90's Sugar days. Employing former Sugar bassist David Barbe and Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty certainly helps, but no one could have expected this much rock from a man who abandoned the genre three years prior. Which is not to say that Mould has completely eschewed the electronic genre either. Mould still finds it necessary to annoy listeners with vocoder-heavy vocals on tracks such as "(Shine Your) Light Love Hope" and "I Am Vision, I Am Sound". But songs such as "Paralyzed" are so reminiscent of some of Sugar's best work that it makes me want to go dig up my old copies of Copper Blue and File Under: Easy Listening immediately. There are some unexpected tender moments of beauty as well. "Days Of Rain" and "High Fidelity" are two of the prettiest songs Mould has ever concocted in his solo stint. Body Of Song on the whole doesn't quite live up to all previous masterpieces that Mould has been a part of in his 20 plus year career, but fans should be thankful that at least it isn't Modulate part two.