Space City Kicks

iTunes Review

With his 16th studio solo album, Robert Pollard drew inspiration from classic rock releases, scrambling the titles of their songs to birth his own. The result brings a new breed of his signature lo-fi recording style, this time around with complex tiers of ever-changing song arrangements that still never surpass the three-minute mark (save for the anomalously long “Tired Life”). Even though the opening “Mr. Fantastic Must Die" is only a minute and 27 seconds, the song’s intricate time changes, drum patterns, and comic book lyrics come together to play like prog-rock for the ADD generation. The title track rocks out with the kind of meaty guitar riffs and boot-stomping rhythms that invoke images of teenage longhairs in double-denim outfits before an ascending chorus, trimmed with all kinds of effect pedals, serves as a reminder that Pollard is still indie rock to the core.