A disjointed collection of song bursts with a wide range of guitar styles.

Guided By Voices’ songwriter Robert Pollard must get bored pretty easily. Only one song on the reunited group’s new album breaks the three minute mark, with many fading out well before it seems like they should end. When they do end, they’re almost always followed by a song that goes in a completely different direction, usually with a completely different guitar style accompanied by a backbeat that adapts its speed and complexity to the tone of each song. Playing this album in order live would be a nightmare, as they would have to switch guitars in between almost every song. The acoustic songs take on a vaguely Syd Barrett quality, with Pollard’s psychedelic, meandering, almost spoken lyrics over percussive, repetitive guitars. When they plug in, Guided By Voices still cover a variety of styles, from the bright, jangly R.E.M.-ish sound on “Record Level Love” and “Vote For Me Dummy” to the the wah-wah heavy trippy guitar on “Jupiter Spin,” to the haunting bluesy sound on “Child Activist.” The most common style, though, is the old standby garagey, fuzzed out lo-fi sound that gives the album some of its best and heaviest moments (“Zero Elasticity,” “Alex and The Omegas”).

RIYL: The Hold Steady, Archers of Loaf, The Replacements
Recommended Tracks: 1, 13, 15, 18, 20