Ty Segall - Fried Shallots

If you’ve ever been to a Vietnamese restaurant chances are you’ve had a sprinkling of fried shallots scattered across a salad or noodle bowl. They are pretty damn flavorful and always leave you wanting just a few more. Likewise, Ty Segall’s six song EP, Fried Shallots, has a handful of tasty bits spread over its scant twenty minutes and leaves you begging for another one or two. Fortunately given Segall’s propensity to fry up another batch of songs you probably won’t have to wait long. It’s unbelievable given his output, this being his third release in 2017, to realize that he just turned 30 a few months ago. Apparently, these songs are remnants left over from the past several years and though maybe don’t hold together thematically it really doesn’t matter given the quality of what’s included.

With your order you get one heavy slab of Sabbath style brooding rock in the form of ‘Dust’, with the fair warning of “we turn into what we breathe” and interspersed with the groan of the title and a stun gun keyboard chord from time to time. Probably my least favorite track, but that’s more to do with personal preference vs. any fault of the song. On the flip side, my favorite track is a Stooges inspired romp called ‘Is It Real’ that contains a blistering guitar solo that builds in waves. Also included are two folkier jams with the standout being ‘When the Gulls Turn to Ravens’ that has acoustic guitar and banjo (or maybe a more loosely tuned guitar) stepping all over each other. Not to leave you wanting, there are also two fuzzed out jams bookending the EP including ‘Big Man’ which was released as a teaser and ending with a track that recalls ‘Spirit in the Sky’ but stands on its own. If these tracks are leftovers, sign me up for a full order though looking at the cover photo I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to peel those first.

Important to note that the EP is available already via streaming on Bandcamp for a small donation that goes to the American Civil Liberties Union. Lord knows there are enough constituencies that need their liberties protected right now. So don’t wait for the physical release later this month when you can help Ty support a good cause.  An extra rating point for being a set of tracks left on the cutting room floor - if other artists could be so lucky.  Not to be missed!