Al Rose’s eighth album, Again the Beginner, is an urgent set of 13 good and true songs which features perhaps the loveliest melodies, catchiest hooks and nerviest set of lyrics he’s yet composed. It’s a heartening and bracing experience, one man’s attempt to come to terms with modern times and that broken feeling everybody’s got in the pit of

Al Rose’s eighth album, Again the Beginner, is an urgent set of 13 good and true songs which features perhaps the loveliest melodies, catchiest hooks and nerviest set of lyrics he’s yet composed. It’s a heartening and bracing experience, one man’s attempt to come to terms with modern times and that broken feeling everybody’s got in the pit of their stomach. The stakes couldn’t be higher: this is your life, our time is running short, and every personal crisis seems tied to an accumulating sense of public dread. After all, a lot has happened since Al dropped his last album, 2016’s Spin Spin Dizzy: years of authoritarian encroachment, COVID-19, and unstinting attacks on democracy at home and abroad.

As a craftsman, Al’s honed his songwriting to a fine edge. He’s got a real gift for melody, and each line cuts just the way he wants—whether what he wants is to make you laugh or make you cry. He’s backed up the words with catchy, well-nigh addictive tunes. It’s a kind of protest music: he’s sounding the tocsin against complacency. Singing us sweetly through the dark, reaching for the sky, scattering catchy hooks and joyful choruses behind him as he goes, Al has crafted a cathartic set for our times with Again the Beginner. It may see us through times even darker than these.

Al Rose: Vocals, acoustic and electric guitar Steve Hashimoto: Bass Steve Doyle: Electric guitar, mandolin, dobro Lance Helgeson: Drums Maury Smith: Vocals, banjo, bouzouki, electric guitar

Produced by Al Rose and Blaise Barton Engineered, mixed and mastered by Blaise Barton at JoyRide Studios, Chicago