ROBERT POLLARD
From a Compound Eye
Merge
· The ninth full-length solo release from Bob Pollard is his first post-Guided by Voices effort and his first for Merge.
Somewhere along the line, Bob Pollard became the Gene Hackman of American indie rock. They both have a massive body of work and a legendary history, they work constantly and at times their productivity comes at the expense of quality. By now Pollard’s blend of plucked acoustics, hooky garage rock, pseudo-prog pop and cryptic lyrical content has become a trademark and every song on From a Compound Eye bears his stamp.
It’s also typical for Pollard to mix lo-fi sounds with studio sensibilities and release material at a breakneck pace. While there isn’t anything wrong with this batch of songs, they are both familiar and forgettable at the same time. Fans will revel in the subtle nuance that separates these 26 songs from the hundreds of others that he has recorded, but one gets the feeling that when the next Pollard box set comes out, this won’t be the album that gets tapped for it.
The good news is that with such a prolific artist, a new album won’t be far away. Hackman made Loose Cannons years before he made The Royal Tennenbaums, and surely Pollard will bounce back, too (and quickly).
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