Guided By Voices today have announced their new LP Thick Rich and Delicious, out October 31st via GBV Inc Records. They’ve also shared the massive, triumphant new single “(You Can’t Go Back To) Oxford Talawanda” to accompany the announcement. “I’m a student of hooks,” songwriter Bob Pollard explains. “That perfect combination of a lyric and a chord pattern that gives you that chill up the back of your spine.”

On the LP, Pollard combines a new batch of songs with a basket of unrecorded gems dating back to the band’s nascent years. The chorus of “…Oxford Talawanda” contains a never-used hook that Pollard has been singing for nearly his entire life.  

Thick, Rich and Delicious, produced and engineered by Travis Harrison, overflows with hooks. It plays through front-to-back like a power pop classic, but don’t misconstrue pop for soft. The basic tracks were cut live and hot to tape and are presented with minimal overdubs. The band recorded in a Brooklyn studio at extreme volumes, conjuring the spontaneity and electric energy of their legendary live show. Complimenting Pollard’s lead vocals, harmonies are sung by Grammy-nominated Bobby Bare Jr & Pollard (aka “The Self-Righteous Bros”). The sound delivers on the album’s titular promise: Thick Rich and Delicious.