To promote their 36th album, ‘Tremblers and Goggles by Rank’, Midwestern indie rock veterans Guided By Voices have released a gorgeously melodic single titled ‘Unproductive Funk’. The title is highly ironic for a band who are releasing their tenth studio album in three-and-a-half years. The track retains the melody of the songs on the band’s recent albums, ‘It’s Not Them. It Couldn’t Be Them. It Is Them!’ (2021) and ‘Crystal Nuns Cathedral’ (2022), but there is a slight heaviness to Doug Gillard and Bobby Bare Jr.’s crunching guitars that was not present on either of those records.
It is certainly punchier and more up-tempo than the previously released, more introspective GBV single ‘Alex Bell’, which also features on ‘Tremblers and Goggles by Rank’. Both tracks bode well for the album, which is released via GBV Inc on July 1st. Pre-order it here. To promote the record, GBV are playing a smattering of US shows. Dates are as follows.
May 13th – Indie Craft Festival, Springfield, Ohio (SOLD OUT).
May 14th – Hi-Fi Annex, Indianapolis, Indiana.
June 17th – The Ardmore, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
June 18th – 9:30 Club, Washington, District of Columbia.
July 8th – 80/35 Music Festival, Des Moines, Iowa.
