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A review by thecommonswings
Closer You Are: The Story of Robert Pollard and Guided By Voices by Matthew Cutter
5.0
This is a fascinating book about a fascinating/ maddening band and about as good as any book can be on the subject whilst also being approved by the main subject. Pollard doesn’t come out of it squeaky clean, and comes out as controlling, mercurial and contradictory at times but, honestly, one listen to a Guided By Voices album would tell you that of the man behind them
What’s most interesting is how Pollard stacks up against the other obsessively prolific cult musicians of our time - the two similarities are Mark E Smith of the Fall (dictatorial, constantly changing line ups, creating records from dischord, ludicrously prolific, likes his beer) and the Representative from Corwood Industries, Jandek/ Sterling Smith. Pollard is actually far closer to Jandek, which is the the most interesting takeaway. I mean, not that any of us can ever truly know Jandek’s methods, but he shares with Pollard a sense of the entire output over the years as the actual work in question, not the records themselves as individual units. There’s a shared sense of a world that makes sense only fully in the head of the creator, a feeling that the records all share a unified vision in some way. Smith was always at the whim of whatever lineup of The Fall he had created, almost conducting them to create the vague visions he had for the music
Pollard’s greatest gift, and it’s one the book captures brilliantly, is that he understands on an almost visceral level that art doesn’t just pop into your brain fully formed. Not everyone is Brian Wilson with his teenage symphonies to God. Pollard creates his music by feeling around sensations and tones and treating it almost as the musical equivalent of the collages he makes. It’s a genuinely empowering call to appreciate the power of finding your own way to create your own artistic path and it’s one I will cherish for a long, long time
What’s most interesting is how Pollard stacks up against the other obsessively prolific cult musicians of our time - the two similarities are Mark E Smith of the Fall (dictatorial, constantly changing line ups, creating records from dischord, ludicrously prolific, likes his beer) and the Representative from Corwood Industries, Jandek/ Sterling Smith. Pollard is actually far closer to Jandek, which is the the most interesting takeaway. I mean, not that any of us can ever truly know Jandek’s methods, but he shares with Pollard a sense of the entire output over the years as the actual work in question, not the records themselves as individual units. There’s a shared sense of a world that makes sense only fully in the head of the creator, a feeling that the records all share a unified vision in some way. Smith was always at the whim of whatever lineup of The Fall he had created, almost conducting them to create the vague visions he had for the music
Pollard’s greatest gift, and it’s one the book captures brilliantly, is that he understands on an almost visceral level that art doesn’t just pop into your brain fully formed. Not everyone is Brian Wilson with his teenage symphonies to God. Pollard creates his music by feeling around sensations and tones and treating it almost as the musical equivalent of the collages he makes. It’s a genuinely empowering call to appreciate the power of finding your own way to create your own artistic path and it’s one I will cherish for a long, long time