It’s a year and a half since the release of Freedom’s Goblin. A winter of rain has buried the recent times of drought. Contradictions are rife. First Taste is an introspective set after the extroversions of Freedom’s Goblin—yet just as steeped in party beats somehow, even as TY SEGALL trails through his back pages, reflecting on family, re-encountering pasts, anticipating futures. First Taste is arch, full of high-energy jams, with a thing in each mix always insistently different. Ty’s song design’s all over the place—not even a surprise anymore—but unlike the freewheeling feast style of Freedom’s Goblin, these twelve numbers form a tightly revolving cycle of song and sound that focuses thoughts.