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Original release notes: Dayton, Ohio-based supergroup Ricked Wicky pulls off a rarely ventured and even more rarely gained three-peat with its third album�all recorded and released in the span of a year�Swimmer to a Liquid Armchair. The quartet, led by Robert Pollard and seconded mostly by multi-instrumentalist Nick Mitchell, with assists from Kevin March on drums and Todd Tobias on bass, have amped Pollard�s already wildly prolific output to Jason-Statham-in-Crank-2 levels. Swimmer serves up the same gleefully messy prog / punk / pop stew as on the previous two Ricked Wicky releases, but there�s a growing sense of assurance evident on the newest record that indicates Big Things for the future.
We draw your attention in particular to "Poor Substitute," as straightforward a song as Pollard has ever written, emotionally charged, melancholy, executed with rough vigor by the band and sung with unaffected mastery. Contrast this with the following song, which showcases Mitchell�s more polished songwriting approach (and abundant guitar chops) and his vibrant, albeit less elastic, tenor voice. If Guided By Voices, Pollard�s other other band, often bear comparison to the Beatles, Ricked Wicky on occasion calls to mind a kind of lo-fi Blue �yster Cult, with a touch of early Queen (Mitchell�s slide work on "The Blind Side" recalls Brian May). Those accustomed to more standard Pollardian fare will find plenty to chew on here: the virtuosic wordplay on album opener "What Are All Those Paint Men Digging," the thumping thug-rock of "Red-Legged Pygmalion," the epic sweep (in three minutes) of "Simple Simon Paper Plates," for starters.
But if Pollard seems determined to establish Ricked Wicky as more than just another in a numberless series of side projects�as an actual thing-in-itself as fully realized as anything he�s ever dreamed up in his rock-crystal bowl�he�s nonetheless never more himself than when testing his own limits. By welcoming different voices and different approaches to both playing and songwriting, by framing Ricked Wicky as a collaboration of equals, he establishes more than ever that he has very few. Put that in your e-pipe and vape it, kids. |
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