Former Guided By Voices frontman Robert Pollard’s a very busy person, and so are you if you’ve been keeping up with his body of work. Between his solo venture and his bands the Boston Spaceships and Circus Devils, the man released nearly a dozen records in 2008 and 2009.
The best part? Pollard’s hit the vein of form he was in in the mid-to-late-90s, when he released classics like Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes and Mag Earwhig! in his prolific cult band Guided By Voices. The songs on his first of many projected 2010 long-players, We all got out of the army are as energetic, as lo-fi and, most importantly, as engaging as his best work.
Songs like “Silk Rotor,” “Post-Hydrate Update,” “Cameo of a Smile” and “His Knighthood Photograph” are all buzzy, sing-spoken hits akin to “Watch Me Jumpstart” or “Tractor Rape Chain,” albeit just shy of those songs’ anthemic quality and ramshackle charm. And while excellent, Pollard-signature slow-burners like “Red Pyramid” and “Wild Girl” never come close to hitting the triumphant heights of “The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory” (though, you know, very few songs at all do).
At times, it can be disappointing that Pollard’s so prolific: his albums, which come so fast, they rarely afford the critics’ attention and have become less of an event with each passing release.
But those paying attention are getting a treat. Pollard is destined to go down as one of the most important songwriters of the “indie” generation, even if only half his recorded output gets its proper due.
If you haven't been paying attention, it's never too late to start. And you could do much worse than starting a record as consistently rewarding as We all got out of the army.
