“Sunspots” by Bob Mould

"Sunspots" is a Bob Mould track from Workbook, the 1989 album that launched his solo career after Hüsker Dü fell apart, and it's a one-man job: Mould wrote it, produced it and plays every instrument credited on it, guitar, keyboard, percussion and mandolin.

That mandolin is a clue to where Workbook was headed. After the punk roar of Hüsker Dü, Mould leaned into folk and a lighter touch, letting heavy guitar crash through only now and then, and the album's acoustic side would later echo through R.E.M.'s Automatic for the People. Steve Haigler engineered and mixed, with Lou Giordano and Heidi Hanschu also among the engineers.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.