Rip Van Winkle: Blasphemy [Album Review]

Rip Van Winkle
Blasphemy
Splendid Research Records [2025]

“Rip Van Winkle delivers a surreal stage play in album form—and it sticks the landing.”

Album Overview: Blasphemy is the latest curveball from Robert Pollard’s ever-expanding universe, this time under the banner of Rip Van Winkle. While Pollard is best known as the prolific frontman of Guided By Voices, this side project gives him a playground to push his more eccentric, conceptual ideas without restraint. After debuting with The Grand Rapids EP in 2024, Rip Van Winkle returns with a full-length that’s equal parts rock opera, collage, and lo-fi stage play. It’s weird, wild, and fully immersive—less a collection of songs and more like a hazy, offbeat performance art piece. What sets Blasphemy apart from some of Pollard’s more tossed-off projects is its surprising cohesion. The melodies stick, the riffs land, and the album’s strangeness feels intentional rather than incidental.

Musical Style: Pollard leans harder into indie art territory here, with scratchy textures, jagged guitar lines, and smaller arrangements. The album thrives on spontaneity and grit—each track sounds like it was captured mid-thought, but with a clear melodic backbone. The instrumentation is rough-edged but never lazy, with snappy transitions and that unmistakable Pollard vocal swagger holding it all together.

Evolution of Sound: Blasphemy taps into the spirit of Pollard’s early-’90s output—unfiltered, experimental, and bursting with ideas. But unlike the GBV tapes of yore, this one plays like a weird little stage production, complete with scene changes and thematic callbacks. It’s both a throwback and a step forward: less polished than recent Pollard efforts, but more deliberately theatrical.

Artists with Similar Fire: Fans of early Pavement, Sebadoh’s tape-hiss years, or The Frogs’ lo-fi absurdity will find something here. There are flashes of Sparklehorse when things get moody and narrative-driven, while the more melodic detours may remind you of Chris Cohen or even Daniel Johnston—filtered, of course, through Pollard’s distinct sense of melody and madness.

Pivotal Tracks: “By the Water” kicks things off with a sunny jangle and foot-tapping rhythm, offering a moment of calm amid the chaos. “Six Black Horses” begins with acoustic strumming before amping up into a fuzzed-out finish. The minute-long “Union” is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it gem, complete with sing-along lyrics and a surprise melodica. “A Mirror Off” feels like a jam session caught in a time loop, as Pollard’s vocals drift in and out like a ghost on tape. Late-album standout “This Is My Thriller” clocks in at 4:40—the longest cut here—and it’s a strange, beautiful beast: haunted intro, piano noodling midsection, and an eerie outro that somehow ties it all together. It shouldn’t work—but it does, and that’s the Pollard magic. This is a record best experienced whole, rather than sliced into singles.

Lyrical Strength: Pollard’s lyrics are, as always, a mix of surreal fragments, strange punchlines, and cryptic stage directions. They don’t always make literal sense, but they follow their own internal logic—dreamy, theatrical, and oddly specific. It’s part poetry, part nonsense, and part cosmic joke, delivered with a wink and a smirk.

Final Groove: Blasphemy isn’t designed for mass appeal, but it’s a rewarding trip for those willing to follow Pollard down his side project rabbit hole. It’s rough around the edges but full of heart, humor, and head-spinning creativity. If you love the idea of a lo-fi rock opera stitched together with indie grit and surreal theatrics, Rip Van Winkle delivers. And knowing Pollard, he’s probably already onto the next idea—so enjoy the strange ride while it lasts.

RIP VAN WINKLE REVIEW HISTORY
The Grand Rapids EP (2024)

GUIDED BY VOICES REVIEW HISTORY
Universe Room (2025) / Strut Of Kings (2024) / Nowhere To Go But Up (2023) / Welshpool Frillies (2023) / La La Land (2023) / Scalping The Guru (2022) / Tremblers And Goggles By Rank (2022) / Crystal Nuns Cathedral (2022) / It’s Not Them. It Couldn’t Be Them. It Is Them! (2021) / Cub Scout Bowling Pins: Clang Clang Ho (2021) / Earth Man Blues (2021) / Mirrored Aztec (2020) / Surrender Your Poppy Field (2020) / Sweating The Plague (2019) / Warp And Woof (2019) / Zeppelin Over China (2019) / Space Gun (2018) / Ogre’s Trumpet (2018) / How Do You Spell Heaven (2017) / August By Cake (2017) / Please Be Honest (2016) / Suitcase 4 (2015) / Cool Planet (2014) / Motivational Jumpsuit (2014) / English Little League (2013) / Down By The Racetrack EP (2013) / The Bears For Lunch (2012) / Class Clown Spots A UFO (2012) / Let’s Go Eat The Factory (2012)

CIRCUS DEVILS REVIEW HISTORY
Laughs Best (The Kids Eat It Up): Best Of Circus Devils (2017) / Laughs Last (2017) / Stomping Grounds (2015) / Escape (2014) / My Mind Has Seen The White Trick (2013) / When Machines Attack (2013)

RIP VAN WINKLE LINKS
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp | Rockathon Records