Ty Segall's 2018 album, Freedom's Goblin, is a largely electric guitar and drum-driven effort … which raises the question why Segall would embark on a solo acoustic tour the same year of its release. "It's really scary and really challenging," Segall explains. "I'm kind of obsessed with trying to do stuff that either I shouldn't do or that's hard for me or that's frightening or just super fun."

The morning after playing at the Turf Club in St. Paul, Minn., Ty Segall stopped at The Current to perform an acoustic set and to chat with Brian Oake and Jill Riley.

Segall says he used to always write songs on the acoustic guitar, but he's since abandoned that practice, at least for now. "To be honest, it got pretty stale," Segall says. "I don't want to really write any more songs on the acoustic at the moment. I don't want to get trapped in a thing, but the short answer is [my songwriting process is] different all the time."

There's a strong philosophical foundation to Segall's "always learning" (ahem) approach to music-making. It's something that emerged after Segall first started putting his vocals more up front in the mix, rather than obscuring his voice under reverb and delay effects. "I got a kick out of making those kinds of records where the vocals were clear and out front," Segall recalls. "And it kind of unlocked a thing in my mind of, 'Oh, well that was scary and fun; let's only do scary and fun things from here on out.' Anything that I'm not supposed to do on a rock and roll record or whatever, I want to try and do it, within reason."

Plus, Segall feels an artistic responsibility to music fans, making sure he isn't doing the same thing musically for too long a stretch. "For me, I just start to get super insecure and feel like it's just getting bad," he says. "You start to feel like you're phoning it in; you're playing the same show every night. It's not fair to the audience that comes."

Despite his love of all things artistically frightening, there's one scary experience he had on the road to the Twin Cities that he'd rather have avoided. Hear that story, and more thoughtful insights and great music from Ty Segall, by using the audio player above.

Songs Performed

"Crazy"
"Alta"
"My Lady's on Fire"
The first song is from Ty Segall's 2013 album, Sleeper; songs two and three appear on Segall's 2018 album, Freedom's Goblin. Both are available on the Drag City label.

Hosted by Brian Oake and Jill Riley
Produced by Anna Weggel
Engineered by Michael DeMark
Visuals by Nate Ryan
Web feature by Luke Taylor

External Link

Ty Segall - official site

Gallery

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