Robert Pollard once described Guided By Voice's take on pop music as "other worldly" and they are a band who have only ever hovered on the brink of wider recognition by refusing to pander to the mass market and always managing to sound resolutely lo-fi even when using a decent studio.
After five reunion albums to date the GBV story is still far from over so fans of the band shouldn't worry too much over another solo record by the band's driving force.
This is Pollard's 20th since 1996 which is about the same number as the band have put out.
He's so prolific that you get the impression spontaneity is more important than sophistication with quirky lyrics that could be, and probably are, cut and paste selections of random notebook entries.
On Blazing Gentleman he rattles briskly through 16 tracks in under 33 minutes like he can't wait to get down the pub. The jumpy time signature suggests many tracks were conceived and recorded on the fly.
On the title track the gentlemen in question might be "in high definition" but little else on the record is. In consequence, you imagine this was recorded practically as a live set with Pollard scoffing at any suggestion of overdubs.
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Tracks like. blink and you'll miss it, Picadilly Man hark back the heady world of 60s garage bands as though nostalgic for the British beat invasion during that decade.
Faking The Boy Scouts is the best title closely followed by
My Museum Needs An Elevator with stream of consciousness words that don't invite, or bear, close scrutiny.
To sum up, it's business as usual for Pollard and to my ear indistinguishable from a Guided By Voices album. All things considered, that counts as a positive.
Robert Pollard / Guided By Voices website
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