by Scott Yohe
Benjamin Franklin once said, “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” However, he forgot to mention the other certainty: a new Guided By Voices album. Since 1983, GBV has been putting out album after album and, in 2025, we have been graced with their 41st effort, Universe Room. This latest incarnation of GBV has been busy for the past 10 years, releasing 17 other albums, many of which are double albums. If you haven't been keeping up with the band you might think releasing this many albums is a bit of an overindulgence, but it’s just the GBV way. Bandleader and genius Robert Pollard doesn’t know how to stop. The need to release music is built into him and any song that comes from this band can end up your new favorite.
Universe Room sticks out in the recent GBV discography because of what it lacks. Bob says that he “trimmed down the songs so that there wasn’t a lot of repetition, so you get a lot of sections that happen only once or twice”. This lack of repetition is evident when listening to any song on the record, you hear a part that sounds so good then you never hear it again. Universe Room is packed full of these moments—all you can do is rewind and listen again. Songs like “I Will Be a Monk” or “The Great Man” show Bob’s love of progressive rock despite their brevity. They completely rock in a way unique to this version of the band. Songs like “Dawn Believes” or the opener “Driving Time” show the softer, more tender side of GBV. For the most part, these softer sides are not overly present on Universe Room, the band keeps a fast pace and jams as much as possible in a short amount of time.
Guided by Voices knows that time is of the essence. Only three out of 17 songs are longer than three minutes and time certainly does fly when listening to Universe Room. Some songs feature brief moments of brilliance by guitarist Doug Gillard. He shreds when he needs to shred, he rocks when he needs to rock. Another notable thing about Universe Room is it looks both forward and backward at GBV’s career. Songs like “Hers Purple,” “Elfin Flower With Knees,” or “Everybody’s a Star” feel like they could fit in on one of their lo-fi 90s albums like Bee Thousand or Propeller. Perhaps the most GBV song on Universe Room is the perfectly titled “19th Man to Fly an Airplane.” It’s a song that is essentially four songs for the price of one. It shows the band at their creative peak and their ability to craft perfect moments.
The point is that Universe Room has something for any GBV fan. It shows that the band is exactly where they want to be: not repeating themselves but never losing touch with what makes them Guided by Voices. This is a band that does its own thing on its own terms, never caring what anyone else is doing, and Universe Room is the perfect showcase of that. If you give it the time that it deserves you will find something that you like and will want to hear over and over. You’ll probably even find something you didn’t even know you were looking for.