A mellow vibe: Ty Segall takes a different route to 'Three Bells,' plans two shows at Sister

Apr. 19—Ty Segall is at his house in Topanga, California — just outside of Los Angeles.

It's raining and the fog is slowly rolling through the canyon.

There are often days like these as the musician finds himself getting ready for tour.

He recently released the album, "Three Bells," and will perform two shows at Sister in Downtown Albuquerque on Saturday, April 20. He will perform at 3 and 7 p.m., though the 7 p.m. show is sold out.

Segall says every project he does is unique.

" 'Three Bells' was the first record fully written and recorded in my home studio," he says. "My previous records 'Harmonizer' and 'Hello Hi' were both written in other ways but recorded at my studio. Having no limit on writing/recording/mixing time made the experience deeper and wider. I was never worried about the 'clock' so every tune began more as an experiment. Also, I collaborated with my wife, Denée, on five of the songs lyrically. This really changed the scope of the album. I think those songs have a very distinct voice, different from my usual style. I worked on 'Three Bells' for about a year and a half."

With a music catalog that continues to grow, Segall has his pick of how a setlist will be curated. Though he knows it has to be scaled back.

"Selfishly, I would love to just play the new album in full on this tour, but I know that is too bold of a move," he says. "So we usually try to lean on new material while having half the set list made up of older material. There are some tunes that always work live, but we try to find ones that we haven't played in years to mix it up. This tour there are definitely a few oldies in the mix."

When it comes to his process, there's always room to do something different.

Segall also admits to a few obstacles.

"Singing for me is always the hardest part of recording," he says. "I'm a bit of a perfectionist, but it needs to 'feel' right too."

There are 15 songs that make up "Three Bells," though Segall had different plans for the album.

"My original idea was to make a triple LP. There were probably 25 ideas that I worked on for the album," he explains. "A few weren't in the right place to finish up, and some others just didn't work. So it ended up being the obvious thing to pick these 15. I think it's always better to cut songs when sequencing albums. Also, I am constantly arranging songs when I am writing them, so the record was already sequenced before it was recorded."

As Segall has continued to make music and navigate his way through the music industry, he's learned things about himself.

He's proud of the evolution of his performance

"To me now, it's far less of a 'performative' thing and just more about myself and the band playing," he says. "Personally, I love that. Who knows, maybe there will be another far out performative style thing I do, but for now I just love playing and letting the music speak for itself. My relationship with performing is always changing. I guess at the moment it feels very mellow."