Tremblers And Goggles By Rank marks a new phase in Robert Pollard’s songwriting evolution. His songs have always included non-traditional approaches to form and song structure, but with this album, he has pushed it further than ever. While the familiar Guided By Voices pop-craft and melodic virtuosity always occupies center stage, the first-time listener will never be able to predict what’s coming next in a song.
“Alex Bell” and “Focus On The Flock” are the two anchors, each one expansive and filled with rock grandeur, and both exemplifying the complex wordplay, melodies, and structures that are hallmarks of the album.
GBV’s latest batch of brilliant songs ride on colourful psychedelic flourishes and brash post-punk textures that make this ten-song album a one-of-a-kind head trip.
While there are hooks and ear-worms aplenty within, this album is a complex and kaleidoscopic journey, representing a new echelon in the Guided By Voices universe. It represents another level of songwriting and performance from the group. It plays out like an intricate and powerful collage, in a very multi-coloured and multi-faceted fashion; a work grand in scale and undertaking.
There are triumphant and glorious choruses, deep and dark wormholes, sinewy twists and turns, bold and theatrical bravados, massive cliffs, plateaus, peaks, and valleys—these emotional landscapes reach new and unexpected heights along the way.
Track Listing:
A1 Lizard On The Red Brick Wall 4:39
A2 Alex Bell 5:03
A3 Unproductive Funk 3:28
A4 Roosevelt's Marching Band 4:10
A5 Goggles By Rank 2:48
Cartoon Fashion (Bongo Lake) (2:56)
B1.a All Sick Again
B1.b Bongo Lake
B1.c Letter Man, Better Man
B1.d Bring On The Frobs
B2 Boomerang 1:54
B3 Focus On The Flock 3:13
B4 Puzzle Two 2:58
B5 Who Wants To Go Hunting?