Guided By Voices main man Robert Pollard is back again with another impressive collection of pop rock ditties. While the release of Of Course You Are marks Pollard’s 24th solo record, he must be having an off year, as this is his first release of 2016 and it’s already February. You lucky A.V. Club readers get the first crack at the new album below before it hits record store shelves on March 4.
Produced by Ricked Wicky’s Nick Mitchell (who also plays all of the instruments on the record), the latest outing for Pollard gives the fans more of what they expect—and want—from Dayton, Ohio’s favorite indie-rock son: Indecipherable song titles and bizarre lyrics that make it seem like rock ’n’ roll just pours through Pollard. Of Course You Are has a certain late ’60s vibe to it, with fuzzed-out guitars hammering out power chords on “Long Live Instant Pandemonium,” subtle organ on “The Hand That Holds You,” and acoustic six-strings and weird electronic flourishes lending a sense of psychedelia to tunes like “Contemporary Man (He Is Our Age)” and “Losing It,” which recalls an indie rock Moody Blues.
The Pollard faithful can expect to hear some of these new tunes when the latest lineup of GBV hits the road later this year; not your father’s GBV has confirmed a June 25th gig at Sled Island Festival in Calgary this summer. Enough talk though, let’s get to the rock…