Girl Named Captain

Just now listening to my iPod on shuffle while doing some mindless work, one song faded out and another began, this one with a big rock bass drum thump-snare drum-double bass drum thump-snare drum figure repeated twice, all with a ride cymbal sizzling underneath. On someone else's iPod it could have been any number of bad hair-metal power ballads. On mine, I knew it was Robert Pollard, and my mind immediately cued the big guitars and vocals of "Girl Named Captain."

I'll admit I had to check the screen to see what Pollard song I was hearing, and was surprised to see that it was from his solo debut, Not in My Airforce. As you can tell from the continually growing number of posts here, I've been listening to a lot of Pollard lately, and sometimes the provenance of the deeper album tracks blur in my mind. As this song unfolded, I thought to myself that I needed to go back and listen to Do the Collapse again because I'd forgotten this little gem.

Why did I think this? It's probably the big, arena rock sound of the track. I long thought Not in My Airforce to be a flawed step backward for Pollard. While I love the old GBV albums that mixed short lo-fi songs, scraps and more fully fleshed-out work, I felt like Pollard should continue growing and explore new territory. Thing is, he was, and I have come to realize that my first impression of the disc is what was flawed. Not in My Airforce is full of some fantastic songs, and "Girl Named Captain" is among the best. Here Pollard was toying with a sound that would largely populate GBV releases for the next decade. It's a near-anthem with big drums, a loud wall of guitars and a soaring, clarion call of a vocal.