Waved Out Review - Cleveland Scene

Waved Out Review from Cleveland’s free weekly Scene, June 18-24, 1998:

Robert Pollard

WAVED OUT

Matador

Who out there thought that Robert Pollard was going to settle in and start making a whole slew of records with Cleveland’s Cobra Verde as the new Guided by Voices? Given the guy’s track record—nearly a couple dozen ensembles have recorded under the GBV moniker—you’d have to be pretty naīve. And so, when the next GBV record comes out, the only remaining bit of Cleveland in the mix will be the guitar of Doug Gillard (Gem/Cobra Verde).

For now though, the Dayton man responsible for replanting the British Invasion into the ‘90s is putting forth his second solo album, WAVED OUT. Which leaves the question—What is the difference between a GBV record and a Pollard solo record these days? There is no answer to that one, actually, but at least the question has been posed. Usually, trying to decipher Pollard’s madman muse is futile. It’s just a bunch of terms and phrases with sounds of words being the number one criteria for entry into a song. Recently, though, he has taken a swipe at turning in a coherent statement. On the last GBV record, MAG EARWHIG, he strung together the robotic "I Am Produced," and here he repeatedly voices the opinion, There is nothing worse than an undetermined person, on "Subspace Biographies." Backed by some ‘80s new wave keys and a danceable beat, it comes across as a lo-fi Psychedelic Furs B-side. Pollard also ventures into the downtrodden "People Are Leaving," which is about the loss of some of his Dayton counterparts. With its slow, shuffling cymbal and two separate melodies sung simultaneously, it makes for a touching and effective number. The music is courtesy of Stephanie Sayers, who sent Pollard an instrumental piece for him to work with. That same musical theory is also put into use on "Caught Waves Again," with Pollard singing into a boom box over a tape of an acoustic melody that Gillard sent. Outside of those two tunes, the rest of the music was created in Dayton by Pollard with some help from his brother and a few other local cohorts. Overall, he tries to capture a large variety of peculiar sounds and styles—Pollard trademarks—and some of those songs that usually only last 40 seconds continue to fill out into at least a couple minutes of ranting pop beauty. This attempt is a fairly choppy affair. Of 15 songs, he hits the mark with about half of them. When he does, it’s because the melody still leads over any of the peripheral activity. Pollard’s gift has always been an unimaginable amount of melodies flying through his head. The problem is sometimes getting them from point A (inside his head) to point B (competent and strong songs that can stand on their own, not just fragments glued together). On opener "Make Use," the aggressive and churning guitar make use as a foundation on which Pollard can comfortably put together a full, well-conceived, three-minute song. Some GBV diehards would probably argue that those 40-second songs contain all the charm that makes Pollard’s work so endearing. Most would contest, though, that it’s unfinished work. On a song like "Artificial Light," he teases with the powerfully disturbing line, Tell my folks I’m dead/I don’t want to see them, only to have the song come to a close. Once again, a slice of some mystic interlude is fine, but Pollard seems to continue to use the formula as a crutch to fill an album. He doesn’t have to make sprawled-out epics, as the two-minute "Wrinkled Ghost" would suggest. A clever and well crafted melody that adds a wave of keyboards toward the end rounds out the song and gives it a sense of finality.

Any GBV fan will find a smattering of new favorites on WAVED OUT, but on the whole it has a few too many peaks and valleys to be considered among Pollard’s finest work. Pollard has always said his material hasn’t made it to radio because of the way it was recorded. That’s only half true, and WAVED OUT is the best example why. Half the time it’s also because of what is being recorded.

(By Kelly Benjamin.)