ROBERT POLLARD
NORMAL HAPPINESS
MERGE

EYE MAGAZINE - TORONTO

Workaholic ex-Guided By Voices leader releases his second album this year; exhausted GBV fans swoon. Still, these 16 ditties don’t sound like leftovers by any measure. And despite their short track length (most are two minutes, tops), Pollard’s mad Gabriel-isms lend them an epic feel. Rockers like “Accidental Texas Who” contrast with the ponderous “Serious Bird Woman (You Turn Me On),” while “Gasoline Ragtime” is a prog journey crammed into 90 seconds. Presumably there is some method to this madness, but Pollard remains sternly poker-faced while we wait for him to spontaneously combust. CR