Guided by Voices: Do the Collapse

I didn't think I would like the new Guided by Voices album, Do the Collapse. I was right, but not for the reasons I anticipated. GBV's records don't tend to be immediately accessible. The catchy melodies are there, but they are hard to catch at first; they emerge after your brain learns to sift them out of the cacophony. GBV's song structures are often linear (as opposed to verse-chorus-verse), and their production isn't exactly sleek. But Do the Collapse has none of these initially off-putting, ultimately addictive characteristics. Whereas in the past many of the band's best songs hardly bothered to establish a chorus, a recurring motif on this album is the repetition of various lines ad nauseum. Musically, GBV's latest offering is also slicker and more predictable.

Collapse is main Guidee Robert Pollard's project. He's fired many band members (even entire bands), including guitarist Tobin Sprout, whose wrenchingly pretty contributions used to offset Pollard's flat-out rocking songs beautifully. The lyrics are still vintage GBV—inscrutable and sporadically brilliant—with lots of wordplay ("Dragons awake!/Take me through the/voodoo, Buddha/You are the/King of Things.") Otherwise, this album sounds distinctively GBV, but without all the elements that make them interesting: the aforementioned subtle melodies, unconventional song structures, tension between songwriting styles. And in the context of this inferiority, you're prone to wonder about things you previously overlooked or even enjoyed, like why Pollard feels compelled to sing with a fake British accent, and how he gets away with song titles like "Zoo Pie" and "Liquid Indian." Faith and past experience earn Do the Collapse a few more listens, but I have a feeling that this time out, old Robert Pollard was sorely misguided. (TVT)

—Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow

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