Let's Go Eat The Factory

What we've learned since Guided By Voices wound down in 2004 is what most of us have always suspected: Robert Pollard works best with a foil, someone to act as a George Harrison to his one man Lennon-McCartney. Though his dozen-plus solo albums all have their moments, it's projects like The Keene Brothers (with Tommy Keene), Mars Classroom (with Big Dipper's Gary Waleik) and Boston Spaceships (with The Decemberists' John Moen) that have provided the most consistently enjoyable releases over the last seven years. So it's no surprise that this reunion of the classic 1993-96 GBV lineup is a return to form: secondary songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Tobin Sprout was an integral part of what made that era of the band special. And encouragingly, Sprout's half-dozen songs are among the album's best tracks, particularly "Spiderfighter" (which features a "Layla"-esque piano coda), the Kinks-driven power pop of "God Loves Us" and the spooky synthesizer drones of the haunting lullaby "Old Bones." To counter, Pollard provides a strong batch of tunes himself, including the utterly charming acoustic character study "Doughnut For A Snowman" and the glorious "Chocolate Boy," a tuneful gem that ranks up there with "Echoes Myron" as one of the band's most instantly memorable songs. The band still indulge their experimental side, layering the psychedelic "The Big Hat and Toy Show" with Hendrixian guitar shards, setting Pollard's skeletal "My Europa" to staticky noise decay, and inserting atonal piano chords into the otherwise tuneful "Either Nelson." It's not Alien Lanes, quite, but it's closer than you might expect.