Because I was too lazy to go to any shows during the cold months of January and February of this year, last December's Guided By Voices gig in D.C. counts as my last live concert before the pandemic brought on the enduring general lockdown. I'm fine with that. In fact, I'm almost fine with that being my last concert ever, if things were to work out that way. No band better understands the power of Rock and Roll than Robert Pollard and his team. And that makes even a sample of the band's power something special every time it's experienced.
And while GBV performed a marathon set last year, they've maintained an astounding pace in the studio recently too. In February, they dropped Surrender Your Poppy Field, and in August they birthed Mirrored Aztec. And, like clockwork almost, Pollard and team are back yet again with 2020's third record. This one, Styles We Paid For, out on Friday via Rockathon, is a brisk affair, and a good enough album on its own that it doesn't even pay to compare it to the other two this calendar year. That said, it feels a bit tighter than those. All that is to say that if this whole year has kicked you where it hurts, and you're crying in your Corn Flakes, Styles We Paid For is a nice reminder of the power of pop music, and a ringing endorsement of a ringing chord (or a dozen).
With demos in place before the pandemic sent everything to shit, Styles We Paid For was recorded remotely with Robert Pollard in Ohio, guitarist Doug Gillard in New York, bassist Mark Shue in Virginia, drummer Kevin March in New Jersey, and guitarist Bobby Bare Jr. in Tennessee. With the recordings done, it was up to producer Travis Harrison to put all this together. Styles We Paid For never sounds like a record assembled remotely. In fact, lots of what's here feels tighter than some of the other nine albums this band's released since 2017. From the light Rutles-isms of "Endless Seafood", and on to the harder "Slaughterhouse", Styles We Paid For gets off to a good start. However, it's on the lovely "Mr. Child" that we're finally back in the best sort of place to be, Pollard's penchant for a hook to kill for matched up nicely with the riffs of the rest of the band. That one, along with the peppy "Electronic Windows to Nowhere", suggests these fellows are as interested in peak era Hall & Oates and Split Enz as they are in The Who. "Crashing at Lake Placebo" favors a similarly deft touch, even as "Roll Me To Heaven" and a few other cuts here veer into harder, more deliberate territory.
Styles We Paid For is remarkably concise. In that sense, we're almost in Do the Collapse (1999)-territory. When things snap here, they snap with purpose and power, and when things slow down, it's in the service of a riff worth exploring. And what Styles We Paid For is is something that's never boring. Producer Travis Harrison deserves praise too, not only for piecing this together from remote parts, but for giving the group's sound a nice sheen, that's vaguely New Wave-y in spots, and Sabbath-y in others. And what's at the center of this is, of course, Robert Pollard's endless quest for a melodic hook, and a sequence of chords to inspire bliss in indie fans.
Styles We Paid For is out on Friday via Rockathon Records.
More details on Guided By Voices via the band's official website.
[Photo: me, 2019, Black Cat, D.C.]