There are those who believe
Robert Pollard could use an editor, and they're given plenty of ammunition with
Psycho & the Birds'
All That Is Holy, another project with Todd Tobias, his frequent collaborator and producer. It's been claimed that the 17 songs were written and recorded in one sitting, and while normally this would be either astounding or unbelievable, even for someone as prolific as
Robert Pollard, here it is just obvious. The basic tunes were taped on a boombox and then shipped off to Tobias, who added parts in his studio. After listening to the first couple of tracks, it becomes apparent that what
Pollard sent was largely unfinished; the majority of the lyrics are incomplete, with wordless phrasing or mumbling (one could reason that the unintelligible adds an air of mystery, but that rings false). There's not much in the way of hooks, either, and most of the numbers, since they are at their core rough sketches, tend to go around the block a couple of times and then end with little fanfare. Instead of suggesting that the pieces be at least finished lyrically, Tobias does his best to come up with interesting accompaniment (to his credit, he often succeeds) and buries
Pollard's vocal in the mix, resulting in a glorified demo. That's not to say there's not potential, and had the songs been fleshed out they surely would've worked well in the context of that sinister
Pollard/Tobias undertaking,
the Circus Devils. As is, the best of the material would make for an intriguing EP, but a full-length CD of this stuff is just too much to sit through. Even the dedicated will have trouble paying attention (or the will, for the matter) past the three-quarters mark; most won't make it that far. ~ Bart Bealmear