Review

Think of it as Dayton Calling.
Robert Pollard had occasionally released solo material while in GbV, but it mostly sounds secondhand, songs that for one reason or another just didn’t fit the GbV mold. From a Compound Eye, on the other hand, is more fully realized than most GbV albums. The first thing you notice is how great it sounds, thanks to engineer and musical collaborator Todd Tobias. If age has had any affect on Pollard’s music, it’s made him sound more in control, less carried away by the music than master of it. The buoyant “Dancing Boys and Dancing Girls” is the sort of pop gem that none of the various GbV lineups would have come up with. The perfect Byrds-y riff on the meditative “Love Is Stronger Than Witchcraft” turns the song’s title into one of those “universal truths” GbV once alluded to. Compound Eye is Pollard at his prime. Think of it as Dayton Calling.