Psycho And The Birds

"The third time's a charm" usually means something has to get screwed up twice before it gets done right. But what if the first two tries are really pretty good? The third one is just so much more... charming. 
 
That's what the third Psycho And The Birds release, We've Moved, is all about. Waaaaay back in mid-2006 (we're talking "Bob years" here), Robert Pollard released two Psycho And The Birds albums. The first, the full-length All That Is Holy, was followed by the EP Check Your Zoo. The concept surrounding Psycho And The Birds is that Pollard writes songs and records them on his infamous boombox (into which every song he has written since the early '90s has been sung), and sends them off to producer/multi-instrumentalist/visionary Todd Tobias, who adds band's worth of music . 
 
This time around they totally nail the process, and if the music world allowed artists like Pollard a chance to have a hit, this album would be chock-full of them. "I Love a Revolution" and "Enon Beach" are filled with undeniable likeability and pop goodness. A perfect combo of playful lyrics and flawless arrangement makes it hard to imagine that one entire half of the song was recorded on an $27 boombox. Pollard even pulls out some lyrics in "She Tears Out," first written, he says, as a kid. 
 
In some ways, Psycho And The Birds are to Robert Pollard's solo albums what Robert Pollard solo albums are to Guided By Voices releases--another side of Pollard. It's a more user-friendly Psycho And The Birds, more charming. It is the third time, after all!