Celebrating their 40th year as a band, Guided by Voices show no signs of slowing down. In fact, the notoriously prolific Robert Pollard and company sound positively invigorated on Welshpool Frillies, their newest record. Out this Friday, this album brims with energy and a real emphasis on maximum riffage.
Opener "Meet the Star" anchors Kevin March's muscular drumming in the center of the track, with the noise circling around it, while "Cruisers' Cross" is crunchy and pure power pop. "Why Won't You Kiss Me" sounds like it features more than just Doug Gillard and Bobby Bare Jr. on guitars, though Pollard gives his warmest performance on this release on this number. Elsewhere, "Don't Blow Your Dream Job" soars, with Mark Shue's bass-work especially shining on this one and "Rust Belt Boogie" later on. "Seedling" sounds like Mag Earwhig! stuff with more chime, while "Radioactive Pigeons" pops with promise.
Gone are the prog hints of a couple of the recent longer albums, and in their place is a renewed focus. Welshpool Frillies cranks things up, with the players chasing riff after riff. This is a record to be played loud, and it's on some level a distillation of the appeal of this band's current line-up into one 40-minute set. Part Slade on some songs, and part Badfinger on others, Guided by Voices happily take inspiration from the classic rock of the past to hammer together an album's worth of wildly efficient material here.
Welshpool Frillies is out on Rockathon Records on Friday.
More details on Guided by Voices via GuidedByVoices.com.
[Photo: Trevor Naud]