Robert Pollard: Kid Marine

With Kid Marine, Guided By Voices frontman Robert Pollard weighs in with his first new album in, oh, months. As prolific as Pollard has been in the years since Guided By Voices' 1994 album Bee Thousand first attracted national attention, it's been difficult to keep track of everything. Was that song you liked from Mag Earwhig!, Not In My Airforce, or Waved Out But what has become clear is Pollard's increasing consistency. For a band that rose to fame in part because of albums littered with intriguing false starts and song fragments, Pollard's more recent work has showcased increasing professionalism, even if his solo albums retain the low-fidelity trappings of his earlier recordings. Subtitled "#1 In The Fading Captain Series," Kid Marine could be Pollard's first stab at a full-fledged concept album. Even if he never quite articulates what that concept is supposed to be—something about television—the songs flow together in a suspiciously concept-album-like way. Does indie-rock need its own Pink Floyd That's certainly worth pondering, though it will probably take a more questionable album than this one to push it to its crisis point. With Kid Marine, Pollard delivers another solid set of songs, from puzzlingly titled acoustic ballads ("Flings Of The Waistcoat Crowd") to puzzlingly titled rock numbers ("Men Who Create Freight"). Aside from a further honing of Pollard's craft, there's nothing here to surprise those who have been following GBV, but there's nothing to disappoint, either.