By Ian Bremner

Cass McCombs has been doing this a long time. He knows what he’s doing and he does not sit still. The Bay Area artist has been pumping out albums for a decade. He is an outstanding guitar player and songwriter, yet his style is always changing. His debut for Anti Records, Mangy Love may be his best.  Summer and Fall 2016 has been so good to us as music consumers.

Cass McCombs dropped Mangy Love in the middle of Frank Ocean hype, Angel Olsen’s instant-classic My Woman, but it deserves to be up there with both of those records. In this harshly political season, perhaps we can all listen to the words of McCombs and an album like Mangy Love. His wit and wry lyrics hit even deeper than normal and touch on everything including racist government, misogyny, California porn industry. Everything. It’s not a protest record or anything of the like, because you have to listen hard to pick up certain vibes, but that is never a chore on Mangy Love.

The music surrounding the messages is plain beautiful so it could be easy to get lost. Swirling guitars, horns flirting with soul tunes join blues and folk rock with a hint of 80s, but sometimes all at the same time, making it difficult to pin down, but very easy to enjoy.

Cass McCombs is always on TOUR

Opposite House (Featuring Angel Olsen)

Listen to Mangy Love