Nowhere to Go But Up
Album by Guided by Voices
Released 24 November 2023
Indie Rock
Label – Rockathon / Guided by Voices
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I review Guided by Voices a lot – like, a lot, like seriously, far more than I need to, and nobody, neither Robert Pollard nor the boatload of people he’s collaborated with, is putting a gun to my head. It’s familiarity + regularity, i.e. I’m a fan of the band’s seminal albums of the ‘90s so I’m happy they’re still giving it some, and they release so many albums so often that they can be hard to ignore. In fact, Nowhere to Go But Up is their third album of 2023, following La La Land – which is my favourite of theirs of the past ten years – and Welshpool Frillies.
The modern Guided by Voices album doesn’t tend to differ too much from its predecessor. Their sound is predictable – for the most part – and all comes down to just how canorously-defined the songwriting is. There is literally no reason for me to pick apart the general setup of Nowhere to Go But Up, and instead, I’ll summarise that it is a solid GBV album for what it is, and here are some of my favourites from the record…
Stabbing at Fractions
I actually find Stabbing at Fractions to be somewhat misleading. There are certain chords I expect Robert Pollard to supply at certain times, and they never seem to come on the song. He instead opts for a toned-version of his own writing style; a verse progression that sounds like a blockier Smothered in Hugs, and then a chorus that simultaneously guides back into the root chord and finds a I-vii-vi – or it might be classed as a bridge section; it has actually been said that there aren’t really many choruses on the album. I expected a degree of raw dissonance, but instead I got a pretty nice diatonic hug that still manages to remind me of GBV’s old days.
Love Set
Love Set begins with an instrumental section that sounds like The Who passing time, gliding through live-like riffage with a pure rock n roll attitude minus Keith Moon’s explosive drumming. This isn’t really a turn-on, but I love how this unabashed rock setup suddenly ends up at chord cut-offs and Pollard sadly singing “watching everybody making racket, watching everybody having fun”, as if he’s suddenly gone from the life of the party to being jealous of the party, wonderfully melancholic.
Jack of Legs
Perseverance is the key ingredient of Jack of Legs much like it is for Love Set. At times, it sounds as though the song isn’t really going anywhere, partially due to the unconventional structure the song follows, as do many others. There is a lot of blind hard rock being played until little after the minute mark, when the song settles into a gentle, acoustic patter, allowing Pollard’s heart to be felt that bit more. Then, once the electric instrumentation kicks back in, the words “and we just smiled face to face” drift in in one of the album’s most sentimental moments. A few emblematic horns follow.
For the Home
Another unassuming intro, another fascinatingly sweet payoff. Alongside a few presentable chords, a happy-go-lucky bounce frequents For the Home, but it isn’t goofy or cartoonish, especially as it coincides with some of the album’s more heartbreaking minor chords. The bounce is supplied by rhythm – obviously – and a tenacious guitar line that electrifies much of the track.
PEANUTBUTTERPOPE 