Bob in Retirement

Did anyone think that Robert Pollard, upon disbanding Guided By Voices, was going to slow down a bit? No one with any sense of GBV history did. Pollard is a guy I have enormous respect for; I took note of GBV back in the early 90s, after a conversation with some record promoter who was a fan of theirs. What she told me was this: They were late bloomers, they made their own album covers, they had a strong DIY approach to recording and releasing work, the band was from Ohio but the singer fakes a British accent, and they put out tons of music.

Pollard had been making solo records long before calling it quits with GBV in 2004, but From A Compound Eye (released in 2006, which features “50-Year Old Baby,” a fabulously strange track) is recognized as his first official release as a solo artist. He’s averaged about two releases per year since then, and this year is no different. The elpee featured in this week’s Stripwax is Pollard’s Lord Of The Birdcage, which follows Space City Kicks, released in January of this year. He also has several collaborative projects going, and is touring with a re-united Guided By Voices this summer.

“Recession” is one word missing from Pollard’s expansive vocabulary.

I haven’t heard Space City Kicks but I do like and recommend Lord Of The Birdcage. As with most GBV and Pollard-related music, if you heard the stuff before, the new stuff will sound somewhat familiar. Pollard openly admits to recycling sounds, words, ideas to make new songs, and as someone who works under a weekly creative deadline, I understand the process. Pollard has a knack for rhythm and melody, and for squeezing maximum emotional effect out of a few simple notes and perfect timing. Then there’s that voice, Brit-tinged by way of Ohio, singing lyrics that seems as if they were written after waking from a dream… disjointed, yet cinematically vivid. That’s how it’s always been with Pollard.

Long may he run.