Circus Devils
My Mind Has Seen the White Trick
Happy Jack Rock Records
Street: 10.29
Circus Devils = Pete Townshend + Jodorowsky soundtracks + Charlie Manson’s solo album
Guided By Voices frontman Robert Pollard releases, oh, a half-dozen or so discs a year under various guises, including solo albums and GBV itself. Circus Devils are the experimental side project in which he conjures up visions, exorcises demons, and writes soundtracks for imaginary movies (and real ones, like indie film I Razor). The twin CD releases don’t seem to settle on a theme or style. “Bird Zone” is sleazy surrealist lounge music, and the video features Steve Five from I Razor. On “Stop Floating,” Pollard intones “Just out of reach,” and any meaning is elusive. What makes it all quintessentially Pollard is he doesn’t forget the rock: Amid all the dream sequences, there’s “Deliver Ice Cream (You Must)”—as if the ‘Emperor’ of Wallace Stevens’ poem was throttling an ice cream truck that cranked out a wicked riff. –Stakerized!