Robert Pollard has possibly the strongest work ethic in rock & roll -- he's one of the few artists of note who routinely releases three or four albums in a given year -- and after
Pollard announced in September 2014 that he had pulled the plug on
Guided by Voices (the venerable indie rock band he founded in 1987), he wasted little time getting back in the game.
I Sell the Circus is the debut album from
Ricked Wicky, the latest in a long line of projects from
Pollard, which finds him in a straightforward rockin' mood while also indulging his fondness for classic hard rock and progressive influences. Featuring production from longtime
Pollard cohort Todd Tobias and contributions from multi-instrumentalist Nick Mitchell,
I Sell the Circus includes 15 examples of the sort of smart, unpretentious, and playfully surreal songwriting that's
Robert Pollard's trademark, both past and present. ~ Mark Deming