(Dislodge) The Immortal Orangemen (2019)

(Dislodge) The Immortal Orangemen 7"

(2019, Rockathon Records) 

Since 2003, Robert Pollard has been releasing collections of poetry and artwork under the collected title Eat. Starting as a modest expansion of the man's artwork, the collections have grown bigger in page numbers, and in scope, much like all of Pollard's output. If you've stopped and taken a look at any volume of Eat, or perhaps go revisit, you'll notice a plethora of LP artwork, both front and back covers, buried in the pages of Pollard's extensive collages.

With 2019's Eat 15, Pollard raised the stakes. His longest collection of artwork to date also featured the return of the Pollard solo moniker for his first showing since 2016s Of Course You Are. A 6 song, no frills one-sided 7'' came with Eat 15, tucked into the back flap. Page 131 of the collection collects the "liner notes" for this exclusive 7''.

Far from essential, this is a fun artifact to behold, perhaps to put on flipping through the pages of Pollard's cut and paste hungry mind, if only for 6 brief minutes. Each track is a classic boombox demo-like track, of similar nature to all 4 Suitcase collections or, say, the Let It Beard Boombox Demos CD. Drop the needle, briefly kick back, and eavesdrop on a man pounding out his legacy on rickety acoustics. 

Late Night Worm- 3 Brittle, seemingly off-the-cuff tune walks a familiar, and classic, GBV walk-down on the guitar. Melancholy and haunting. 38 seconds of mystery, melody, and warbled vocal cords. 

Nurses Smoking Cigarettes- 4 Seems to be some percussion in the rattle here! Is that cymbal crash in the dissonance? Pollard provides a strong melody in between cryptic pauses. Jangly and bombastic, in the no-fi sense. In between the hiss, this is a real winner. 

The Sea Hags Of North Dayton- 3 Acoustic stomp rocker that sounds like it'd fit wonderfully on an early Pollard solo LP if fleshed out. Complete with warped bar room noises, trippy and chaotic with underlying promise. 

Mirror Of The Maniac- 2 Sounds like an acoustic guitar played through a flange pedal, this is a short mood piece that meanders about and never really goes anywhere of note. 

Pain- 4 Driving psycho tune complete with drum machine backbone.  Repetitive 2 chord riff complete with psych riffs. A little slice of art damaged Krautrock via Dayton. An addictive experiment from Pollard. 

Trumpets and Trumps- 2 Sad acoustic ringouts as Pollard barely makes it out of the speakers, crooning lowly in the background. A comedic social commentary if you will, at 2 sentences long.