ROBERT POLLARD

Honey Locust Honky Tonk

[GBV]

Somehow, in between the 57 or so Guided by Voices albums he’s recorded over the past year and a half, Robert Pollard found time to make his 23rd solo record. But despite its title, Honey Locust Honky Tonk isn’t the super-prolific singer-songwriter’s traditional country music addition to his vast catalog. (The only thing vaguely country is the cowboy hat Pollard sports on the album’s cover and the outlaw-themed “I Killed a Man Who Looks Like You.”) In fact, it doesn’t sound all that different than most of the albums he’s released, either on his own or with Guided by Voices, over the past 20 years. It’s a little cleaner than the band’s recent lowest-fi outings, and Pollard stretches his usual ’60s pop and ’80s New Wave parameters to include some Scary Monsters-era David Bowie on “Her Eyes Play Tricks on the Camera.” But just to remind you that this is Pollard, the 17-song album clocks in at less than 35 minutes. It’s DIY business as usual. –Michael Gallucci