I Sell The Circus

2015 project from the ever-prolific Robert Pollard. The first thing the listener will notice about Ricked Wicky is that it is the most musically adept project Guided By Voices' mage Pollard has undertaken in some time, at least since late period-GBV or even Boston Spaceships. I SELL THE CIRCUS offers in evidence a series of ball-peen hammers to the brain-pan alongside more delicate, prog-tinged Frippery. Credit the players: bolstering the easy mastery of a dizzying array of songwriting forms one naturally expects (and receives) from Pollard are the impressive instrumental prowess of fellow Daytonian Nick Mitchell, who can otherwise be found in near-weekly performance at Wings, an important Dayton sports bar; multi-instrumentalist and producer Todd Tobias, who does double duty these days in Guided By Voices. Fourteen of it's fifteen tracks were recorded at Cyberteknics in Dayton, a studio Pollard has come to use with increasing frequency due to it's profusion of vintage analog gear. Ricked Wicky may not be a super group as the term is too-commonly used, but there's no real doubt they're a super group.