Grant Hart announces new solo album
By David Hansen in Local Music
Wednesday, Sep. 9 2009 @ 8:58AM
Being a part of the Twin Cities heyday in the 80s is sort of like winning the Masters-- do it once and you get a lifetime invitation, no questions asked. That's why you still see pa/matriarchs like Bob Mould, Grant Hart, Lori Barbero, and Paul Westerberg still thriving decades after the bands that made them big names.
Well, Grant Hart has made it official-- Hot Wax, his 6th solo album, will arrive on October 6.
Hart performing in Austin, TX, filmed by ManInRuins.
Hart is the haunted, grizzled face of 80s alternative local rock, and his band, Husker Du, was part of a massive local upsurge that made the Twin cities a national name for the first time since the Trashmen cut "Surfin' Bird" (well, not counting Prince, we suppose).
And now, a handful of decades since that heady, blurry youth, Hart has curried a superstar cast to cut Hot Wax, featuring members of Godspeed You Black Emperor, Silver Mt. Zion, and Rank Strangers (another local inviolate full of legends).
After ditching the skins for the six string, Hart's solo music has proven every bit as mercurial, as tense, as embittered, and as vulnerable as was his work in Husker Du, and his voice and his playing now have the mossed, creaking seams of age that give his words and voice yet more character than he had as a young man. There are hard years and long miles audible in Grant Hart's songs, and the release of Hot Wax is certain to be attended by much local fanfare. Keep your eyes on us, and we'll give you the news as we get it.