Rip Van Winkle - Grand Rapids EP 12"

Mysterious Robert Pollard project in limited edition of 1000/1000. IYKYK

We didn’t get much info about this Rip Van Winkle EP prior to release beyond a kind of winking acknowledgement that it was a new solo moniker from GBV’s Robert Pollard and I gotta say, there’s not much info after its release either.

But what I can say (as someone who is not (yet) a Pollard megafan) is that this release takes his surreal associative lyrics and apply the same approach musically. There are rock hooks and lead lines aplenty here but where his work with GBV jams them into tightly wound garage rock classics, Rip Van Winkle teases them out into sprawling and open-ended tracks that swing between the rocking, the acoustic, and the avant-garde.
-Mitch