Regressing to points along GBV’s Eighties timeline, sole mainstay Robert Pollard wrote every word and played every instrument on the Dayton-ers’ 23rd LP. Following opening anthem “My Zodiac Companion,” the playful melody and slinking bass of “Kid on a Ladder” evokes 1995 group high-water mark Alien Lanes. Several of PBH‘s 15 tracks stop short of blossoming into the hooky, soaring choruses for which GBV were revered – half bar band, half Grand Funk Railroad – but the title track won’t disappoint via breezy-but-glum lo-fi. Bizarro flecks (“Sad Baby Eyes”) recall the 58-year-old frontman’s Frogs-like eccentricity. If fans approach this idiosyncratic half-hour listen like a Pollard solo work rather than band output, it assimilates a slightly disjointed but fascinating character study. (Fri., 6:40pm, Dragon’s Lair stage)

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This article appears in November 4 • 2016.

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