Circus Devils
Early reviews of the new CD Gringo apply the term “Southwest” to its feel. This listener can hear some of that, though “Witness Hill” gets me in the mood to dust off those old Jethro Tull albums. That’s not bad company.
Robert Pollard urges listeners to see this collection as accessible and acoustic, which it certainly is. “Ships From Prison To Prison” is very nicely done and of course there are those great visuals to guide the listener who has a good media player. I was actually a bit frightened at the beginning of “Bad Baby Blue.” A musician/writer of Pollard’s talent will probably take that as a compliment. After all, stimulating emotions is what music is all about.
Pollard has been doing this music thing for a long, long time, with help from such creative talents as Todd Tobias. Pollard and Tobias were the guiding hands behind the group Guided by Voices. But that gathering of musicians is only a small part of the work from this amazingly prolific singer and songwriter. We tried out “The Gasoline Drinkers” and then this review session finished with “Monkey Head.” There is delightful dissonance in these songs. They’re eerie and hard to get away from. Buy it!
Tags: indie, indie music, independent music, music, circus devils
