REVIEW: Guided by Voices - Alien Lanes (Matador)

- Joe Silva

I had only a minor aural clue about what I was getting into here from a twenty second or so radio snippet I caught of "King and Caroline", track 19 of 28, on the latest Guided By Voices release, Alien Lanes. After hearing all of the lopsided intent on Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, I strayed from most bands that drew any Pavement comparisons. So, I had no business allowing my curiosity to veer towards Alien Lanes. For those who marveled (like myself) at genuine low-fi fare like Pavement's "Cut Your Hair" eventually wound up on The Tonight Show, will be stunned at all the acclaim being allotted to GBV's no-fi stance. From the kickoff of "A Salty Salute" and onwards the Voices pitch these tunes in a demo quality wrapper, despite the fact that someone (a "Mr. Japan" to be exact...) does gets production credit here. Initially, one spin of this going in the background, made me feel Sebadoh had all over again, but a more focused playing eradicated all that...or a good part of that anyway. Sure, things go beyond being frayed sound-wise, but there are so many gems here, it's a factor largely worth ignoring. I'm not sure why there are five people pictured on the jacket (I pick out 3 instruments at best on most tracks...), but Robert Pollard and company pull off a bent but nonetheless pure pop effort. Nothing seems to venture very far past the three minute mark, and that's that becomes the most frustrating element on Lanes. Tunes like "Watch Me Jumpstart" and "As We Go Up We Go Down" just get to loping along when they fall off a musical cliff, disappearing unfinished, and with not even so much as an aftertaste to remind you of what went on. It's like a taped diary of fantastic notions that you pass along to someone in your band to build on. It prompts you to wonder how much collective material there is time wise on the recently released box set that looks back across all their previous records. But while they last, songs like "Game of Pricks" sound like lost Byrds sessions, full of shimmering, tuneful moments that resonate with British invasion pop melodies and voicings. Trust me, I checked. There are some valid underground moments, not grunge-ridden, but free-form and unencumbered by any traditional structure like a set of lyrics that Mark E. Smith might pen for a Fall record. I can only hope that live, this stuff blossoms and they play with it a bit. Already perched as one to be knocked from the year end Top Ten heap.