Robert Pollard: Silverfish Trivia

After two solid post-GBV records under his own name, Uncle Bob gives us Silverfish Trivia, the first release on his new label, Prom Is Coming. This “mini-LP” is all over the place, coming closest to Motel of Fools in the Pollard canon both in its brevity and its inconsistency. In seven songs, there’s two very plain string arrangements that bookend the record. Then there’s short acoustic tunes “Wickerman Smile” and “Waves, Etc”, both decent but unable to catch the ear. The bulk of the album’s time is spent on “Cats Love a Parade”, an eight-minute tune that isn’t so much a song cycle as a handful of snippet songs awkwardly strung together. The results are sometimes interesting, but overall taxing. The most successful songs here, “Circle Saw Boys Club” and “Touched to Be Sure”, are classic pop-tune Pollard fare. They’d be comfortable on either of his Merge releases and contain his irreverent lyricism in spades. “It’s slick shit city, / And my girl’s pretty”. That’s the Pollard we know and love. Brush the rest aside, Bob, this is the stuff we’re looking for.