New material from the indie rock trailblazers! Well, sort of. For the 23rd album from the Dayton, Ohio band, Robert Pollard, the principal member, handles all the songwriting and playing. The “classic” lineup that produced time-honored works like Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes is not involved, but Pollard nevertheless delivers 15 songs that tap into the same lo-fi realm that signified Guided By Voices’ earlier sound. Check out the brilliantly weird “The Caterpillar’s Workforce,” or the pleasantly buzz-y “The Grasshopper Eaters.” “The Quickers Arrive” is brash and slightly but decidedly distorted, and “My Zodiac Companion” opens the album with simple but catchy lyrics and hooks. Also check out “Kid On A Ladder” and “Come On Mr. Christian”; it’s an honest, intimate, experimental, and at times surreal listen from the beginning to end, with other highlights being “I Think a Telescope,” “Eye Shop Heaven,” and “Sad Baby Eyes.”

• music label: Guided By Voices Inc. 2016

reviewed by donut savage 09/2016