Photograph titled "Hare" from the Bain News Service collection, c. 1940
Robert Pollard, Ohio's one-man pop/rock encyclopedia, has released his second solo album of 2009. Elephant Jokes is a very different beast from his other recent solo efforts, though, and the difference can be distilled down to this - Pollard has finally made his fully-formed homage to Pink Flag. It's a little unfair to compare the 1977 debut album from the UK's most infamous art-punks to the thirteenth solo album from a middle-aged US songwriter, but it's no secret that Wire has long been an inspiration to Pollard. And Elephant Jokes is lively and surprising in a way that evokes the spirit of a much younger artist.
The most important thing that Robert Pollard brings to Elephant Jokes is his guitar. In the last few years, Pollard has been leaving all instrumental arrangements to collaborators like Todd Tobias and Chris Slusarenko, and the recordings probably suffer a little for it. This is evident in how different the sound is on Elephant Jokes, where Pollard contributes significantly to the record's riffage, and it's clear that his presence in the studio makes a difference in other ways as well. His fingerprints are all over this record, which is what you would hope for in an album with his name on it. A good chunk of the album's 22 brief tracks are based on sinewy Wire-esque guitar riffs - "When a Man Walks Away" has an trebly, angular hook anchoring a pretty sweet power-pop melody, "Epic Heads" has a heavy proggy intro, and "Stiff Me" is built on a bouncy rhythm guitar that is reminiscent of "classic-lineup" Guided By Voices.
I also hear Pink Flag in the Pollard's characteristic genre-hopping, as well as an unexpected willingness to try out new sounds. He tries new styles of vocal delivery on many Elephant Jokes tracks, which can be off-putting to hardcore fans at first, but it makes the album more rewarding on repeated listens. The jokey "Hipsville" is sung in a goofy hick voice, "Cosmic Yellow Children" is delivered in a thin falsetto, and the song named after brother "Jimmy" has weird, wheezing backing vocals all over it. In short, Elephant Jokes captures everything I love about Pink Flag (which has also been getting a lot of plays around here lately), and it sounds fresh and fun as a result.
It's a little odd that Pollard has chosen to push "Jimmy" in early promotion of this record. With its aforementioned vocal weirdness, jangly guitar, and ocarina, it's not really representative of the album's overt art-punk leanings. It also has one of the album's weaker chorus hooks, with the unfortunate lyric, "Jimmy get your love gun / Supersonic love gun." I don't know Jim Pollard well enough to want to see his "love gun". But the track does capture some of the album's easy-going vibe and emphasis on GBV-style concision. Robert Pollard's career may be so convoluted at this point that there is in arguing over this album's potential appeal to people who aren't already fans, but I think that you'll find a lot to enjoy in Elephant Jokes if you have any love for Guided By Voices or early Wire.
"Jimmy" by Robert Pollard
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