Guided By Voices

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Tony Nelson

Guided by Voices

Hey, a new Guided By Voices record just came out! The March 4 release of Crystal Nuns Cathedral may not exactly be big news considering It's Not Them, It Couldn't Be Them, It Is Them — an instant classic in the prolific GBV canon — just came out in October. More newsworthy: GBV is actually playing a Madison show on this tour. Their last time in town, back in 2014, Bobby Bare Jr. was the opening act during what was billed a farewell tour. When the band re-formed in 2016 Bare ended up in GBV as part of what has turned out to be one of their most stable lineups.

$37 ($35 adv.).

media release: Guided By Voices have always played by their own rules and they’ve kept extraordinarily busy during the pandemic. Three albums in 2020 and two albums in 2021 garnered amazing press, and they’re now selling out shows everywhere. But the new album Crystal Nuns Cathedral tops them all! 

The mighty Guided by Voices are set to unleash upon the world their 35^th and quite possibly…BEST album, Crystal Nuns Cathedral, on March 4, 2022. How do they do it you might ask? Well, we don’t know how they do it, but we certainly do know WHY they do it. They do it because quite honestly we NEED them to do it. The world needs The Rock, and we need loud guitars, we need anthemic songs, we need a reason to raise a rock fist in the air and give a “Hell Yeah!" On Crystal Nuns Cathedral, the band delivers all of this and so much more.

Just four months since It’s Not Them. It Couldn’t Be Them. It Is Them!, comes Crystal Nuns Cathedral, twelve songs determined to challenge for the title of greatest Guided by Voices album of all-time. Hyperbole you say? Not this time. The guitars are bigger, the arrangements are more ambitious, the songs are uplifting, epic, and as incredibly hook laden as always!

Pure power pop perfection like lead single "Excited Ones" mix perfectly with the slow burning "Climbing a Ramp" which reaches its climax on a stunning guitar lead before dissolving into the fist pumping anthem "Never Mind the List," which serves as the beating heart of the entire album. Do you still need convincing? Listen to the one-two punch of "Forced to Sea" and "Huddled" and marvel at the epic scope and vision of an incredible band on full display.

This record is a statement, a challenge, a monument, a call to arms. Top this one if you can, this is the new benchmark. Who will best it? Who will try? Listen to Crystal Nuns Cathedral, and report back to us. We will be eagerly waiting.

recent press:

"Fist-pumping, Quadrophenia-esque" - Gothamist

"'Never Mind the List' leads with very windmillable guitar chords, and features a spiraling melody that doesn't quite follow traditional verse-chorus-verse structure but is nonetheless catchy as hell." - Brooklyn Vegan

“'Excited Ones' boasts big power-pop energy with its stomping drums and guitars that crunch with just a bit of jangle." - Rolling Stone

"Yet another supercatchy powerpop number from Robert Pollard's endless bank of these, that once again tips its hat towards The Who" - Brooklyn Vegan