Robert Pollard

Guided By Voices front-man Robert Pollard has often said that while GBV is his main focus, his Fading Captain series is his real art. It rings true when one considers the more direct route GBV albums proper take compared to solo. Not nearly as experimental as some of the series, the seven new tracks offered here are more melodic than most songs on the Nightwalker or Circus Devils releases. Still, this definitely isn't the kind of stuff that would be released as GBV these days. Primarily lo-fi, recorded at home in Dayton with GBV alumni and his drinking pals floating in and out of the mix, Motel finds Pollard hiding the hooks under layers of reverb and samples. Is it good? Most certainly. Is it necessary? That depends on your current Pollard viewpoint. If he's still relevant to you, you won't want to live without it. Pollard himself knows this, asking the listener "are you still there?" in the album's sixth track "The Spanish Hammer." The choice is yours.