“On his ninth album, the reserved bandleader incorporates more classic rock references than usual, but they’re the frames for subtleties and surprises within.”
“Cass McCombs returns with the masterful Tip of the Sphere”
“Cass McCombs achieves the perfect middle ground between otherworldliness and sturdy, rhythmic songwriting. McCombs’ ninth studio album Tip of the Sphere—his first since 2016’s Mangy Love—is brazenly derivative, but that doesn’t degrade its quality or its pervasive meditative nature. Mangy Love was both topical and escapist and Tip of the Sphere took that baton and ran with it. In his evocative, li”
“Indie rock vet refracts Americana from the Grateful Dead to Walmart on shapeshifting new LP”
“Across nine records now, US singer-songwriter Cass McCombs has progressed from lo-fi indie to one of folk rock’s leading lights, dealing in an austere Americana with a focus on storytelling. ‘Tip of the Sphere’ follows career-best ‘Mangy Love’ from 2016. Where that album was as ominous and acerbic as the US Presidential election it was released into, this record is more thoughtful and detached. Fi”
“Cass McCombs doesn’t come to you. Over the course of nine studio albums, the Californian singer-songwriter has affected the persona of the grizzled drifter, turning in deceptively pretty songs that wallow in the bleakness of the world (2016 track ‘Bum Bum Bum’ juxtaposed its goofy name and laidback acoustic riff with brutal lyrics: “We’re all at war… How long until / This river of blood congeals?)”
