Indie rock outfit Guided By Voices are releasing their third album of the year, called Styles We Paid For, on December 11. Along with the official album announcement came a lead single called “Mr. Child.”
The band has shifted line-ups many times, but it’s always been singer/songwriter Robert Pollard’s band. He’s known for being a very prolific artist, having put out countless one or two minute songs since Guided By Voices started releasing them in 1987.
This year, he’s shown no sign of slowing down. In fact, the band is setting a new record, since this will be the first time that they’ve released three albums together in a year. They released Surrender Your Poppy Field on February 20 and Mirrored Aztec on August 21. While Pollard has released three year a few times, if you include solo albums, together they had “only” released two albums a year at most, including last year with Zeppelin Over China and Sweating the Plague.
“Mr. Child” shows off Guided By Voices at full blast. It starts with a rocking guitar riff, and then the rest of the band makes their presence known. Pollard starts each line with “Mr. Child…” and sings about a man who “knows his role/To roll with punches and remain as a child.”
Pollard spoke to Rolling Stone about the album process for Styles We Paid For. “I finished the demos on February 29th and sent them to the band. I was planning on an all-analog album entitled Before Computers. The pandemic obviously changed our recording plans and ironically it was all recorded digitally on computers. The band members recorded their parts in isolation in five different states.”
Styles We Paid For Track List:
1. Megaphone Riley
2. They Don’t Play The Drums Anymore
3. Slaughterhouse
4. Endless Seafood
5. Mr. Child
6. Stops
7. War of the Devils
8. Electronic Windows to Nowhere
9. Never Abandon Ship
10. Roll Me To Heaven
11. In Calculus Strategem
12. Crash at Lake Placebo
13. Liquid Kid
14. Time Without Looking
15. When Growing Was Simple
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