The normally unconventional Pollard seems surprisingly comfortable with the arrangement of piano, acoustic guitar and even strings at the end. Then comes Surgical Focus, an excellent rocker which has a nice open, driving sound like Mag Earwhig's very good Jane of the Waking Universe. Do the Collapse works well in a number of different pop and rock styles. Pollard is still making quirky, interesting songs. Wormhole is a likeable song, a metaphor for seeking a safe, simple life, in which Pollard is an earthworm.
Pollard can be maddening and compelling in the same song.
Pollard shows his pop skills on Wrecking Man, which has a likeable delicate Beatlesque feel with playful strings. It has other good rockers like Things I Will Keep and Strumpet Eye. An Unmarketed Product is a short, fast fun song like on earlier GBV records. There are also fairly stupid exercises like In Stitches, where Pollard sings spacy junk over a repetitious grinding guitar, and Optical Hopscotch, which don't go anywhere. Pollard isn't a great singer, but he projects an interesting, distinctive persona.