The Hard Quartet, The Hard Quartet (digital outlets)

It's strange to remember a time when musicians couldn't just guest on other people's albums, like Eric Clapton having to go uncredited on While My Guitar Gently Weeps and George Harrison appearing under a pseudonym on the Eric/Blind Faith album.

These days rock is much more like jazz where players move to new bands, configurations or fellow travellers to extend themselves.

Bands like U2 and the Bats with decades-long line-ups are the rarity.

The Hard Quartet is an alt.rock sorta-supergroup of friends who bring a lot of their personal history to draw on.

What began as informal sessions for Stephen Malkmus (Pavement, the Jicks, Silver Jews), Emmett Kelly (Ty Segall's band), Matt Sweeney (Cat Power, Will Oldham, Zwan) and Dirty Three drummer Jim White became a viable entity.

And they deliver a double album roaming from Byrds-like harmonies and classic twanging Big Star-pop (Our Hometown Boy) through slightly off-kilter, stoner country-rock (Rio's Song, North of the Border) to the gristle and rubber-burning guitars of Chrome Mess and Earth Hater.

They take no prisoners on the bratty metal thrash of Renegade, put on heavy boots for the stomp-pop of Action for Military Boys and Malkmus in Pavement-persona contributes the weird, shaggy-dog Six Deaf Rats, an unpredictable maze of constantly changing lyrical and musical directions.

But The Hard Quartet is quieter than their backgrounds suggest: the folksy Jacked Existence;country-folk (Heel Highway, Killed by Death); downbeat songwriter folk (North of the Border)and Waitsean speak-sing for the dyspeptic blues of Thug Dynasty which sounds made up on the spot: “the last train to Clarksville already left from the station”.

Over 50+ minutes this isn't without flat spots but if this is “dad rock” for the indie.generation, then middle-aged males are having it pretty good. Again.

.

You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here.