Lord of the Birdcage

Robert Pollard isn’t going to slow down, so it’s up to his fans to keep up. His voluminous recording output gets even more ridiculous when you consider that aside from frequent solo records he also releases records with Boston Spaceships and Keene Brothers. For this album, Pollard opted to reverse the writing process and put music to his previously written lyrics. It doesn’t change things much, but there is a notably economy here. Where many of his post-Guided by Voices songs have sounded like mad Kerouac dreams feverishly dashed off, songs such as “Dunce Codex,” “In a Circle” and “Ribbon of Fat” have a distinct focus to them. There are still primitive mash-ups like “You Can’t Challenge Forward Progress” and “Silence Before Violence,” but it’s likely these songs scan better than most. The proto-boogie of “Ash Ript Telecopter,” the mounting tension of “Holy Fire” and the agitated guitar jabs of “You Sold Me Quickly” prove the man has yet to run out of ideas.