Universe Room

Last updated

Universe Room
Universe Room.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 7, 2025
Length39:32
Label Guided By Voices Inc.
Producer Travis Harrison
Guided by Voices chronology
Strut of Kings
(2024)
Universe Room
(2025)

Universe Room is the forty-first studio album released by American indie rock band Guided by Voices, released on February 7, 2025, through their own Guided By Voices Inc. label [1] It was preceded by the singles "Fly Religion" (November 22, 2024), "The Great Man" (December 13, 2024), "Dawn Believes" (January 22, 2025), and "Elfin Flower with Knees" (January 24, 2025).

Contents

Background

On November 19, 2024, the band announced the release of their new studio album, along with the first single "Fly Religion". [1] Of the new album, frontman Robert Pollard said:

I wanted to create, hopefully, an experience, kind of a wild ride, where the listener would want to hear it multiple times in order to grasp all the sections and fields of sound to discover something new with each listen. I wanted to get a little more sonic diversity for this album. So I asked each member of the band to record all the instruments for one song and I did three songs myself. [2]


Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 71/100 [3]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [4]
The Arts Desk Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [5]

Universe Room was met with "generally favorable" reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 71, based on 6 reviews. [3]

Track listing

All songs written by Robert Pollard.

  1. "Driving Time" – 2:05
  2. "I Couldn't See the Light" – 2:55
  3. "I Will Be a Monk" – 1:30
  4. "The Great Man" – 2:03
  5. "Clearly Aware" – 2:36
  6. "Dawn Believes" – 3:26
  7. "Play Shadows" – 2:00
  8. "Fly Religion" – 2:25
  9. "The Well Known Soldier" – 1:07
  10. "Hers Purple" – 1:05
  11. "Independent Animal" – 1:13
  12. "19th Man to Fly an Airplane" – 3:41
  13. "Elfin Flower with Knees" – 2:20
  14. "Fran Cisco" – 3:07
  15. "Aluminum Stingray Girl" – 2:19
  16. "Aesop Dreamed of Lions" – 3:07
  17. "Everybody's a Star" – 2:23

Personnel

Guided by Voices

Additional contributors

References

  1. 1 2 "Guided By Voices Announce 41st Album Universe Room". Stereogum. November 19, 2024. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
  2. Ehrlich, Brenna (November 19, 2024). "Guided by Voices Announce New Album". Rolling Stone . Retrieved July 6, 2025.
  3. 1 2 "Critic Reviews for Universe Room". Metacritic . Retrieved July 6, 2025.
  4. Thomas, Fred. "Guided by Voices – Universe Room". AllMusic . Retrieved July 6, 2025.
  5. Robbers, Ellie. "Guided by Voices – Universe Room". The Arts Desk .