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Guided By
Voices: Earthquake Glue
When the annual Guided By Voices album is about to be released, the first question usually asked is, "Which other GBV album will this one sound like?" Its a credit to the band that the only real standard of comparison left for them is their own especially when the standard to speak of is so high and a difficult one to live up to at that. Yet, what many havent figured out is that Bob Pollard's creativity is boundless, and while each album has a distinct mark, each is also an entirely new project in its own right. In fact, Pollard has even been quoted as saying that he won't release an album unless he believes it to be superior to the previous one. Along those lines, on this years Earthquake Glue, the emergent sound is neither a resemblance of the still glorified, one-take type of lo-fi work on Bee Thousand or Alien Lanes, nor does it resemble last years underrated and wonderfully bombastic Universal Truths and Cycles. The approach on Earthquake Glue is rather one of subtle perfection; Pollards vocals are often more buried and gentler than on Universal Truths which is ironic, because there seems to be more of a direct message emerging on this new release. Gibberish to the naked ear, GBV lyrics come in varying degrees of decipherability, but on Earthquake Glue, certain messages are clear. For instance, Useless Inventions satirizes the uses of modern technology as a quick fix for any problem that rears itself in our modern world, but at a price: Dont know if its a miracle or a curse / Maybe we can help you to feel worse Never knowing what will come up next / Will it be the panic switch or select? The opening track My Kind of Soldier also seems to have a message challenging the nonsensical nature of war: Introduce your pride to the other side / Vaporize the trial with denial. But not every song here is focused on relaying some sort of message. One of the best things about any GBV album is the sequencing of its tracks, and Earthquake Glue is no different. The more challenging tracks are always carefully interwoven with the scrumptious, listenable pop gems, such as The Best of Jill Hives. The aforementioned track is encased by two songs that take several more listens to absorb: Dirty Water, which sounds like it could have been one of the prog-influenced outtakes from Universal Truths and Dead Cloud, a distinctly GBV song with hard to follow rhythms. This sequencing technique has always worked beautifully on the bands albums, forcing the listener to avoid skipping through tracks and giving him/her time to grow to love the more challenging songs, eventually absorbing the album as the whole that it was meant to be. From what I can tell, the reception this album has received since its release has been overwhelmingly positive. It has even been hailed as the bands best release in years. While I agree that Earthquake Glue rates in the upper-half of GBV LPs, the album seems to lack any songs that carry the same punch as previous singles such as Everywhere with Helicopter, Bulldog Skin, or even Motor Away. But who am I to say that this is a bad thing? Earthquake Glue fulfills a different purpose, and next years album will likely fulfill still another.
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