Hot Wax

Personnel: Jessica Moss, Sophie Trudeau (violin); Genevieve Heistek (viola); Beckie Foon (cello); Brian Litson (trumpet); Thierry Amar (electric bass, hand claps); Mike Wisti (electric bass); Efrim Menuck (hand claps).
Audio Mixer: Efrim Menuck.
Years of addiction tend to obscure Grant Hart's considerable strengths as a songwriter, a situation not helped by his erratic post-Hüsker Dü work. After 1999's Good News for Modern Man, Hart drifted away, spending some time as a musician for hire but generally existing outside the spotlight, taking a full decade to return with Hot Wax, his third solo album and easily his richest collection of songs to date. Hart hasn't abandoned the buzzing guitars that have defined much of his music since the days of Dü, but he's certainly downplayed them, preferring to ramp up a latent baroque pop obsession and spend some quiet, intimate moments with just a keyboard or two. There's variety here, and also craft, a bracing and overdue reminder that there were two excellent songwriters in Hüsker Dü. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine