Yup. Another new Robert Pollard album. Except… it’s not. Bear with me for awhile here while I explain.

In the year of two-thousand-and-six, Robert Pollard has so far released four albums prior to Normal Happiness under various names, one EP and a crackingly good single titled “Love Is Stronger Than Witchcraft”. Included in those aforementioned albums was the sprawling double record titled From A Compound Eye. It’s about as close to a masterpiece as anyone could ever hope to achieve, with it’s mixture of psychedlic, proggy pop… but to the average newcomer, at 26 songs FaCE was just a bit too much to take on at one time. Heck, I’d been sitting on that album for nearly a year before it’s release (as most of the Pollard diehards were, if they knew where to look) and I STILL don’t get portions of that album. In the good way, of course. I know that one day I’ll be playing side two while cleaning up the garage or something, and finally a tune I’ve found to be otherwise inmpenetrable like, say, “Other Dogs Remain” will suddenly click and floor me. That’s the beauty of Pollards output. Even on the rare occasion that he does make a record I’m not too crazy about, (for example, that last Psycho & The Birds EP), I know that a better release will always just be a few months away. On those grounds alone, you can’t really go wrong getting into this guys stuff.

So why isn’t Normal Happiness just another Pollard release? Because it may be the best damn thing he’s done in a decade. It’s a deceptively poppy affair, and while on first listen the tunes might seem slight or tossed off, further inspection (especially on headphones) will reveal a record that boils all of Pollards strengths into one easy-to-digest 35 minute record. It’s chock full of great songs that end just as you’re starting to get where he’s coming from, ensuring that the album holds up to repeated listenings.

While the first half of the record seems to center around songs with fairly anemic guitar tones, said tones are essential to the glistening staccato feel that dominates the overall makeup of Normal Happiness. Highlights include, but are not limited to, the lush and gorgeous “Boxing About”, “Get A Faceful” with it’s warm-yet-clinky backing track, and the masterful vocal harmony found in “Tommorrow Will Not Be Another Day”. I’d be amiss if I didn’t mention that “Rhoda Rhoda” could comfortably sit along Pollards past glorious shoutalongs as “Glad Girls” and “A Salty Salute”, and also that “Supernatural Car Lover” could very well be the best pop song the guy has coughed up all year.

It’s no joke, Normal Happiness could easily be remembered as the best non-Guided By Voices release that Uncle Bob has ever delievered, but that could just be the fan boy inside of me talking. If Merge handles this promotion of this release carefully, we could be looking at one of the most highly regarded independent pop records released since the turn of the century. Yes, you read that right, and I’m not retracting the statement.

Robert Pollard - Supernatural Car Lover.mp3
Robert Pollard - Give Up The Grape.mp3
Buy Normal Happiness at the official Robert Pollard site!