Fire Track: Guided By Voices – “Phantasmagoric Upstarts”

Guided By Voices Turn Up the Volume with “Phantasmagoric Upstarts” — A Fuzzy Fever Dream from Their Upcoming Album

Guided By Voices are back with another blast of pure electricity. Their latest single, “Phantasmagoric Upstarts,” is a moody, slow-burning churner that previews the band’s upcoming album Thick Rich and Delicious, due out October 31st via GBV Inc. Records. The song follows the swaggering first single “(You Can’t Go Back To) Oxford Talawanda.”

Guitarist Doug Gillard says the track captures the essence of this record’s no-frills approach: “It’s just Kevin, Mark, and me in a room—no overdubs until Bob and Bobby laid down vocals. It’s raw, it’s real, and it’s everything GBV does best.”

Thick Rich and Delicious is packed with power-pop hooks and punchy riffs, recorded live and loud in Brooklyn with producer Travis Harrison. The sessions were stripped to the bone—tape rolling, amps roaring, no safety net. Pollard’s vocals are joined by Bobby Bare Jr. for rich harmonies under the tongue-in-cheek alias “The Self-Righteous Bros,” making for one of the band’s liveliest-sounding efforts in years.

With Thick Rich and Delicious, GBV prove they can still shake the walls while keeping that unmistakable Pollard magic intact.

(Guided By Voices is Robert Pollard, Doug Gillard, Bobby Bare Jr., Mark Shue, and Kevin March.)

PRE-ORDER THICK RICH AND DELICIOUS HERE