When My Love’s Around

Ty Segall “The Singer”

In a strange way, this song strikes me as the midway point between Pavement in 1995 and Oasis in 1995. I say “in a strange way” because neither of those bands really did waltzes, and it doesn’t literally sound exactly like either band. But on this song – and a few others – Segall is gesturing towards a shabby psychedelic balladry that Stephen Malkmus sometimes gestures towards, but can’t quite do. And it’s also in the solo, and the pleasing slackness of the rhythm section. The Oasis part is in the nasal pinch of Segall’s voice, and the more refined side of the arrangement, which goes all in on a sort of drama Malkmus has always shied away from. It’s a magnificent song, and maybe it’s ridiculous for me to say this after spending an entire paragraph comparing him to other artists, but I feel like this is the song/the album where Segall has really found his voice as an artist.

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