California Son (LP)

The Britpop icon's latest album includes performances with members of Green Day, The Regrettes, Grizzly Bear, Young the Giant, LP and more.

'California Son' traverses the sonic landscape of the 60s & 70s, covering untouchable luminaries like Joni Mitchell, Dionne Warwick, and Bob Dylan while also delving into more obscure musicians of the time, such as early gay icon Jobriath and political activist Phil Ochs. Paying equal tribute to the marginalized stars as he does household names - and taking on these covers with modern alt-rock royalty guests including Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day), Ed Droste (Grizzly Bear), Sameer Gadhia (Young the Giant), and LP - the record serves as a bridge between space, time, and rock music's past, present, and future.

In line with a career marked by environmental advocacy and a ground-breaking soundscape of jangly alt-rock melancholia, we see Morrissey playing to his strengths while pushing his sonic limits. The U.K. rocker conjures bombastic stadium anthems ("Lady Willpower"), messages of environmentalist activism ("Days of Decision"), trip-hop psychedelia ("When You Close Your Eyes" with Petra Haden), and even dives into surf rock on the first track "It's Over", a heart-breaking cover of "The Caruso of Rock" Roy Orbison that interpolates church bells, castanets, and operatic vocals amid a sea of reverberated guitar accompanied by stirring operatic vocals courtesy of LP. The record, in short, showcases Morrissey doing what he has done best since his Smiths days: delivering harsh truths with a charming genteel.