TMI

Robert Baril spends much of his second album grappling with an unexpected lifestyle change: becoming a step-grandfather. He treats his sudden domesticity with a mixture of resignation and amusement, skewering modern rites of passage like gender reveal parties, which he describes as cleaning the house just to find out a fetus’s genital configuration.\n\nFilmed at Sisyphus Brewing in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the 2019 release captures Baril at a transitional point in his career. He had recently wrapped up a four-year run hosting the progressive talk-radio show “Laughing Matters” on AM 950, and his political fatigue translates into weary cynicism on stage. He details local grievances, like Wisconsin’s political landscape, alongside broader issues including guns in schools, Russian espionage, and pro-life billboards.\n\nLocal critic Patrick Strait of The Growler praised the release for its balance of personal and political observations, writing that it showed Baril finding his voice as a performer. The material thrives when Baril connects his exasperation with the news cycle to his own bizarrely domestic personal life.