New material from the indie rock trailblazers! Well, sort of. For the 23rd album from the Dayton, Ohio band, Robert Pollard, the principal member, handles all the songwriting and playing. The classic lineup that produced time-honored works like Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes is not involved, but Pollard nevertheless delivers 15 songs that tap into the same lo-fi realm that signified Guided By Voices earlier sound. Check out the brilliantly weird The Caterpillars Workforce, or the pleasantly buzz-y The Grasshopper Eaters. The Quickers Arrive is brash and slightly but decidedly distorted, and My Zodiac Companion opens the album with simple but catchy lyrics and hooks. Also check out Kid On A Ladder and Come On Mr. Christian; its an honest, intimate, experimental, and at times surreal listen from the beginning to end, with other highlights being I Think a Telescope, Eye Shop Heaven, and Sad Baby Eyes.

• music label: Guided By Voices Inc. 2016

reviewed by donut savage 09/2016

.