Strut of Kings (2024)

 Strut Of Kings

(2024, Guided by Voices Inc.) 

Guided by Voices returned in the middle of 2024 with what proved to be their lone LP of the year. It was the first time since 2017 that the calendar year saw only a lone LPs worth of songs from camp Guided by Voices. It also proved to be the last LP that they would tour on, as the band played their last live performance on 10/26/24 in Dallas, TX to no preconceived "final show" fanfare. 

Strut of Kings is once again leaner when it comes to total tracks, but proves an expansive mix calling back some of the moodier tracks of Crystal Nuns Cathedral melded with the prog leanings Pollard has leaned into with his tightest and most road polished group to date. It's a record of many moods, right out of the gate working on world building with "Show Me the Castle." As we've come to take for granted, the record is scattered with pop greatness, along with some tracks mid record that really show a band molding some wild Pollard ideas into sonic glory.

Sometimes self-reflective, it also has moments that feel autobiographical, especially the epic "Bit of a Crunch." With this comes an added weight to the record I've come to enjoy pulling a seat up next to with each listen. It's a record that drives home the old mantra, "Life is short, GBV is long."  

SIDE A:

Show Me the Castle- 4  Expansive guitar spills out as if coming over the horizon, with heartbeat tom thumps to lead us through Pollard's immaculately doubled vocals. Lyrically, this feels like an allegory on the current state of the world, wrapped in top notch prog rock lyrics. After being hypnotized, the song shifts gears into an explosive rock stomp, Gillard running away with angular guitar leads that leave smoke trails. The band leads us out with a third section that somehow feels more hooky with every repeated listen. 

Dear Onion- 5 It seemed inevitable that the Beatles White Album loving title would be fantastic, and goddamn it is! The song is incredible in its stripped down simplicity. Fuzzed out, direct, but also stuck in a haze of weed smoke. This is if hotboxing was a song, let's be real. The way Pollard sings "to everything under the sun" 6 different but equally moving 60s inspired ways, backed with Shue's woozy Nuggets sounding basslines, is bleary eyed perfection in a song. 

This Will Go On- 4 Acoustic opening with eerily familiar, vintage Pollardian home-recording and open room sounding vocals but with a bigger feel. An incredibly haunting track with an underlying yearning and beauty that feels simple, but is a masterclass in songwriting. 

Fictional Environment Dream- 4  If Forever Since Breakfast is considered Pollard doing fairly straight REM, then this song feels like a return to REM in a more 90s vein. Incredibly hooky earworm, backed with airy Gillard orchestration. Pollard's vocal mix or delivery feels less polished than the previous takes on the record giving this song a bit of vulnerability.

Olympus Cock In Radiana- 3 Now that's a hell of a song title! The first in the run of songs on the LP that might challenge the average listener. Feels like an idea left to the band to magnify. Mostly feels pretty barebones, held together by Kevin March's auxiliary percussion heavy drumming. Eventually the band builds into a massive crescendo before heading back into the string punctuated return to the chugging verses. Recommended with headphones to capture of the triumphant symphonic doom of the second half! 

Leaving Umbrella- 4 Speaking of headphones and symphonic doom, this track feels like walking through a smoking wasteland shielding your eyes from whatever sun is poking through said smoke while someone wails a nearly indecipherable, but hauntingly beautiful melody in your ears. Might be contender for coolest song on the record. 

SIDE B:

Cavemen Running Naked- 3 One of the singles released for the record, this is about as simplistic as it gets, and revels in its no-bullshit structure. There are soaring hooks all over this fuzzed out thump, but they rarely come back to repeat. It's the kind of song where repeated listens make you recall with each new spin.  Pollard's lazier deliver on the verses behind the bands bombastic stomp is intoxicating.

Timing Voice- 2  For lack of better words, this is just one of those songs that isn't bad, but rarely sticks with me. A 3 and half minute straightforward one that rarely changes course and just suffers from the missing ingredient factor. 

Bit of a Crunch- 5 Ho-boy did this song get me. This feels like one of Pollard's most honest and pensive songs soaked with incredibly lyrical imagery. It feels like a message from a man reflecting, knowing that time is limited. A "bit of a crunch" feels like its referencing his career, his time on this earth, his call for some wider acceptance of this incredible body of work. Whatever the case, this is one of Pollard's longform bests. Not going to say how many times, but lord knows I've had a tissue out for this one. 

Serene King- 5 After that moving dandy, we head into the first single released for this LP. Standing proud on its "traditional" choral campfire/cheerleader hook of "everywhere I go, people wanna know...,"  this is an unabashedly catchy triumph. When Pollard belts out "Oh my name is serene!" its an instant aural dopamine kick. And like so many of Pollard's song, there's some hurt in there somewhere that weaves a deeper beauty through a song that could easily just be a viewed as a killer rock song. 

Bicycle Garden- 3 After 2 moving songs, "Bicycle Garden" leads out the record on a lighter note. A bouncier affair that lyrical feels its plucked from the 60s. There's a sameness that runs throughout the song that doesn't always callout for a repeat. Sonically, the guitars trading off lines in the speakers, along with the symphonic swell to lead us out, is a production revelry.