Robert Pollard and Richard Davies were COSMOS. At least in 2009. I like to keep up to date.

I’ve been such a good lad. Writing almost like a responsible journalist. That’s not a bad thing, but I promised myself (and you) that SPEW would be a place for more dashed off bits. 

Well, here’s one. 

Cosmos. Ever heard of them? Unless you’re a Robert Pollard completist, probably not. Their sole release, Jar of Jam Ton of Bricks was released in 2009 (one of Pollard’s 100+ issues, only about a 1/4 of which are Guided by Voices titles). Cosmos was a collaboration with Richard Davies, Australian pop oddball and auteur behind the cult faves the Moles. The two of them share a certain aesthetic, a vision that embraces early John Cale, the first two Brian Eno records, Pete Townshend’s Scoop demos, bits and pieces of the Beatles, and a dash of early Syd Barrett. 

Some of the songs on Jar of Jam are based on little more than acoustic guitar and percussion, especially woodblock, others are full band janglers. Because of the duo’s shared sensibility it all hangs together and segues not unlike the disparately united flow of the Beatles (white album, to you). Like that fabled collection Jar of Jam includes strange little fragments and fully developed songs. 

Pollard is front and center more often than not. On “For the Whiz KId” he treads toward Big Star, or maybe R.E.M. territory. “Sudden Storms are Normal” features a Lennonesque melodic twist or two. Some of the songs are not only collaborative but feature shared vocals, including “The Neighborhood Trapeze,’ with its Psyc Furs pallor and Robyn Hitchcock whimsy. and the spectral, piano-based trifle “Just By Pushing a Button.” Davies’s turns as primary vocalist are highlights. “Grapes of Wrath” (‘are mine, leave them to me’) is a full-bodied, chiming folk-rocker with a direct, seductive melody. The shambling feel of “Early Chill Early Crow” features Davies in extemporaneous, eclectic mode, shards of Eugene Chadbourne dissonant guitar framing musings about “early rock ’n’ roll.”

Jar of Jam Ton of Bricks isn’t a world beater. It’s a one-off by two like-minded eccentrics. It’s charms are substantial, though, if you are as easily seduced by chamber-rock and unforced melody as I am.