Bob Mould @ Academy 2, 7 Feb

A kind-faced middle-aged man who could have easily just come from the set of a B&Q advert leans over to the microphone and asks “Is it loud enough?” However, this isn’t some burger-flipping barbecue enthusiast but rather the once-frontman of Hüsker Dü – the band that both Pixies and Nirvana cited as a major influence – it’s flippin’ Bob Mould! And yes Bob, it’s extremely loud.

The seemingly ‘together’ aesthetic of Mould as a solo artist with his band (comprising Jon Wurster of Mountain Goats and Superchunk fame) is convincing. The media spats with former bandmate Grant Hart have subsided, and the angry young man who penned the antithetical, angry acoustic record Workbook seems to have finally shed some baggage. 

Debuting new single Voices in My Head as well as The End of Things from his forthcoming Patch the Sky album, Bob Mould is hardly trouble-free but he is at least able to build on his extolled abilities to create melody within chaos; a skill we're reminded of tonight with Sugar classic If I Can’t Change Your Mind and 2014’s I Don’t Know You Anymore.

Despite dipping into more melodic moments from his back catalogue, his guitar ranges only from a solid brick wall of distortion to angular barks as he thrashes out hook after hook. Inevitably the set is rounded off with a string of Hüsker Dü numbers but more importantly the whirlwind set reinforces Mould’s ability to turn dark subject matter, the sort heard on 2014’s Beauty & Ruin,  into a “chemical chorus.” This isn't necessarily a new Bob Mould, but it's as visceral, powerful and honest as he's ever been.