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Isolation Drills has been on repeat all morning. "Fair
Touching" kicks off the new album — for the thirteenth time.
This jangly pop-rock touches me more with each play. Where once I
discarded it as soft and shallow, I now feel pop's power, thanks to
GBV leader and vocalist Robert Pollard's poetic, poignant lyrics.
Pollard is the brain of today's pop — his songs have depth and
feeling. Produced by Robert Schnapf (who's worked with Beck, Foo
Fighters and Elliot Smith), the twelfth full-length release from cult
legends Guided By Voices rocks with Brit-pop sensibilities and Elliot
Smith-like airiness. (Smith, by the way, adds keyboards to three of
the songs.) Broken up by a few melancholy ballads, the album is
mostly upbeat and infectiously melodic. Pollard's songs make you wake
with a chorus running through your head. Take "Chasing Heather
Crazy," which is so uplifting you can't help but sing along. Pollard
shifts cleverly from passionate wails to swift speak-singing where
the words run together like watercolor: "Staring out from
otherworldly windows painted red/ Doesn't have to listen to the
voices in your head/ That's a different lie/ Do you remember what was
said?" The explosive, high-energy "Glad Girls" is reminiscent of
early '90s alt-rock (think of The Replacements, but softer); its
catchy, cheery quality makes you smile. "Fine to See You," with a
Michael Stipe-style vocal and delicate guitar lines, is one of the
album's few low-key tracks. Constant throughout the record are
Pollard's lyrics. Whether honest and confessional ("One day I will
know/ That it's a waste of time/ And there's a better road ahead of
me/ I just don't know how to make it there/ So I'll just hang around
and take my chance/ Once again I'll roll the dice/ And try to hang on
to my shrinking paradise" from "The Brides Have Hit the Glass") or
imaginative and deep ("Wooden heads on the chopping block/ And other
hearts pumping ink/ That spills out over dreams of antiquity/ Pale
but full of ghostly charm/ Leave your things in the streets/ And run
wild" from "Run Wild"), Pollard's songwriting is always ingenious.
Such creative prose, set against the melodic but edgy layers of
guitar, bass, drums and, infrequently, piano and cello, gives
Isolation Drills meaning. Yes, it's fun rockin' pop. But,
unlike a lot of today's pop music, Guided By Voices keep their depth.
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