Guided by Voices new album:100/10
It's not them. It couldn't be them. It is them.
Start to finish. It's adventurous, inspired an exciting album that is culmination of everything Robert Pollard does best and has done best for decades. The previous album Earth Man Blues, was stellar. But this?
Arena rock riffs. lo-fidelity oddness, endless melodies and experimentalism. In this case, the surprises come less in the form of "prog," but horns and violins.
The song "Chang Gang Island" encapsulates everything mentioned above.
Musically, the opener "Spanish Coin," finds its inner Zeppelin with brooding acoustic guitars, driving percussion. With some pseudo-flamenco guitar moments for good measure. "High in the Rain," is joyous. "Dance of Gurus," is a chugging track (with cowbell no less) that could be read almost as some form of social commentary from the pov of a homeless man. That is, if Pollard ever chose to be that direct with his lyrics. Thankfully he still isn't, and the impressionistic painting is all the more powerful, like always.
Things get a bit brooding by the time we get to "Maintenance Man of the Haunted House," but immediately get back into adrenaline land with "I share a Rhythm."
Us GbV fans are used to failed experiments and half-baked thoughts, but the closest moment this album as is the a cappella "Razor Bug" with Pollard singing/slurring a strange one, ending on the lyrics "Razor Bug is goofy from the shots." The shots could be a nod to their partying ways, or the second jab of Rona Vax. Perhaps that why even this song is a necessity.
The rest of the album is a mix of mid-tempo and driving rockers including "People Need Holes," that changes tempo more than one would think possible for a song that's not even 2:45. Even nearing the end, "The Bell Gets out of the Way," adds a surprising sonic moment and (horn and violin) keeping the unexpected coming.
And while I think they could have ended the album on "Chang Gang Island," because it sounds like a song you'd want to go out on, the actual closer that follows, "My (Limited) Engagement," is somehow more fitting, as in a way it harkens back to the past and "Echos Myron," from their opus Bee Thousand.
It's as if they're saying GbV is and will always be a hoist-your-beer-in-the-air sing-along band.
While the latest line up have been pumping out some amazing albums for the past few years, this really is on a whole other level. Maybe the time forced off the road was the ironic key needed to enliven them. Pollard's lyrics, as inscrutable as ever, resonate more than ever. His voice is in fine form. And the band is one unit. If there's a better line up than Pollard, Doug Gillard, Bobby Bare Jr, Mark Shue, and Kevin March, you'd be hard pressed to find one.
Perhaps the pandemic was the best thing to happen to Pollard. Or maybe it was something else entirely.
Whatever it is, it can't be this good. It shouldn't be this good. But it is.
100/10
