Blazing Gentlemen

Description

Blazing Gentlemen is the last Robert Pollard record. That will be released in 2013. It is also the finest Pollard-related record to come out in this or several years, aural evidence of a rock mage reinvigorated by the fact, according to the man himself, that hes finally figured out how to write a song after 55 years. Which may come as a surprise even to casual fans of Pollards thousands-strong catalogue, and fair enough, Bobs certainly hip to the irony, but its no joke. While hes explored pretty much every highway, toll road and dark alley of song craft in his long career, including spontaneous drum contests where every member of Guided By Voices would be given the opportunity to come up with a drumbeat, over which he would then improvise a spontaneous melody based on semi-random lyrics from his ever-present notebook (for example), hes never before applied one consistent approach over the course of even one record. The new technique is considerably more disciplined: he first collects in the (figuratively) selfsame notebook phrases and titles, bits of overheard conversation, snatches of misheard movie dialogue, thus providing an assortment of lines all of which he considers strong enough to serve as potential song titles. He then assembles these song titles into lyrics, which because each line is strong enough to stand on its own, contain neither bloat nor the least misstep. When hes happy with the lyrics, he writes a melody for each lyric. He then sits down with the guitar and figures out chords that fit the melodies. Sounds pretty straightforward, but for Pollard the result provides a structure uniquely suited to his muse. The proof is in the excellent cake, so happily done, and quick to bake, as he sings (recalling to those with long memories the freedom cake of Propellers classic Weedking) on Tea People, represented in sixteen exquisitely crafted slices on Blazing Gentlemen. From the rollicking Anglophilic Extra Fools Day to the pithy, elegiac This Place Has Everything, Blazing Gentlemen is no mere confectioners conceit. Veiny with Pollards signature depth-charged melodic inventiveness, multiple listens reveal multiple meanings, shape-shifting moods, and lyrical twists that will delight even the word-shyest rock-phobe. The music itself is standard-issue Pollardian guitar wizardry, unusual chord progressions made up of unusual chords jutting against off-kilter rhythms in ways that shouldnt work but never do not, only to be overshadowed by another bravura vocal performance, occasionally larded with (unusual) harmonies or plain weird delay/reverb/compression effects that only ever add to the tremendous bustle of joy (see Lips of Joy for an on-the-nose demo) applied liberally like primer to the multi-hued tracks. Robert Pollard fans are fond of making extreme statements in support of their favourite songwriter. Lets pile on: with Blazing Gentlemen, one of Americas greatest living artists has fairly reinvented himself. That is no little feat. That is a triumph, and deserves to be celebrated with the same zeal with which Pollard celebrates and honours his own gifts on this complex, architectonic wonder of an album. Drinks for everyone!