Cool Planet

About

Guided by Voices never seem to run out of ideas. Four months after 2014's <i>Motivational Jumpsuit</i>, the group have returned with <i>Cool Planet</i>. It was recorded during the coldest winter in years, with Robert Pollard working in a studio in Ohio and Tobin Sprout recording in his home studio in Wisconsin. Throw the results together, and you have an 18-track album that comes as close as any GBV album at distilling their essence. Songs such as “Table at Fool’s Tooth,” “Pan Swimmer,” “You Get Every Game,” “Bad Love Is Easy to Do," and “The No Doubters” feel like songs that were worked on as opposed to being the product of immediate gratification. This is often courtesy of drummer Kevin March, who gives the songs an extra tightness. Sprout certainly comes through with the piano-based “All American Boy,” “Narrated by Paul," and the acoustic “Ticket to Hide,” three of the album’s best songs. Why this album above many others? Apparently, Lady Luck was smiling down on the GBV boys this cycle. Either that or the band members really respond to polar vortexes.

via Apple Music