Robert Pollard
The Crawling Distance
Guided By Voices, Inc.
By Mike Randall
One would guess Robert Pollard spent his time in class as a student constantly sketching in his notebook. Most drawings, out of presumption, were likely unfinished fragments, forgotten once the bell rang or the page turned. Every now and then, he probably developed one to its intended conclusion, full of detail, craftsmanship that took longer than a single class period and dimension worthy of the talented pen it came from. Others were never given a chance, dying before given a chance to be remembered.
Just a few months in, Pollard is having a year that might make Ryan Adams feel like Portishead. With the release of his latest solo record, The Crawling Distance, the always-prolific Pollard is kick-starting a period that will see him unleash The Planets Are Blasted, from his band Boston Spaceships, and Gringo, a set from Circus Devils, the group he shares with some of his former Guided By Voices colleagues. It must be added that all those records will be on shelves by mid-April and that this calendar year, of course, doesn’t include Circus Devils’ Ataxia from late 2008.
Fortunately, it appears Pollard put some thought into The Crawling Distance. While there are definitely some daydreamers (the open-chord ballad “Imaginary Queen Ann”), the tracks here are as focused as anything he’s done in years, and at 3-to-4 minutes in length, actually sound finished. While melodic, they’re certainly not polished, although some of the more gentle moments are the standouts. The lo-fi “No Island” comes to mind, as does the flowery psych of “It’s Easy,” complete with awesome dreamy sonic weirdness that’s able to maintain a homemade feel. The sharp, biting riff of “The Butler Stands For All Of Us” finds Pollard standing directly in the middle of early Who and early-90s R.E.M., and the acoustic-rooted “Red Cross Vegas Night” finds itself in similar territory, both to high success.
Just because Pollard is exploring more melodic structures and isn’t quite experimenting as much doesn’t mean he’s lost his edge. The album-opening “Faking My Harlequin” owns a driving down-strum reminiscent of modern Sonic Youth, while the swagger and punch missing from recent output is rediscovered during the Brit-rock stomp of “Cave Zone.” There’s some fine snarling guitar work during the post-punker “Silence Be Destroyed,” and Pollard sounds like he’s fronting a prog version of The Stooges on “Too Much Fun,” signing off by singing, “It’s never too early or too late, so please come again.”
About halfway through The Crawling Distance, Pollard delivers a line that might be symbolic of his recent catalog. “It’s easier to make a point than prove a point,” he sings during “It’s Easy.” More often than not Pollard has taken that route, making as many points as he can without taking the time to prove any of them. For all the throwaways Pollard has had of late, he’s finally shed his notebook for a canvas, and that proves a point in-and-of itself: Uncle Bob has made it worthwhile to come again.
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