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Robert Pollard has released so many albums, under so many diffrerent guises (he's listed in Wikipedia as having over a dozen musical side-projects) that there's little room for surprise in his work. You know that with each new release you're going to get some mix of power-pop anthem, lo-fi indie sketches, and skewed prog-punk, perhaps with one syle getting favored over the others, but always filtered through Pollard's unique take on songwriting which he's been refining for the past quarter century and over 1,000 songs. The only question that each new release begs is "Is this good Pollard, or bad Pollard?" Well, his first album with his latest project Boston Spaceships definitely falls into the category of good Pollard.
Brown Submarine's 14 songs are a bit less polished than the ones from Robert Pollard Is Off To Business (released earlier this summer), but none of them ever get submerged in any lo-fi murk. They shine the brightest on the soaring Who-influenced "Psych Threat" and "You Satisfy Me", but most the songs here are positive additions to the ever-increasing Pollard ouvre. It remains to be seen if Pollard and his BS cohorts John Moen (who is also a man of many bands, most notably The Decemberists, Elliott Smith) and Chris Slusarenko will be taking this further than just a one-off side project - the fact that this album is being followed by Pollard's first tour in two years makes me think that they might - but if they are planning at having a serious go at being a real band, that's fine by me.
DAVID MANSDORF
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