Airport 5

After going their separate ways following the restructuring of Guided by Voices, Robert Pollard and Tobin Sprout continued to produce music at their usual, frenetically prolific pace. Pollard kept up his inhuman recording and touring schedule, and Sprout relocated to Michigan, releasing numerous solo albums, painting, and opening an art gallery. The two remained friends even after their band's vitriolic meltdown, and rumors of a reunion project persisted, perpetuated by legions of GBV fans ravenous for new material. In August of 2001, the fans' prayers were answered in the form of Airport 5, the first project Pollard and Sprout had worked on in tandem since 1996. The songs for the Airport 5 project were recorded long-distance; Sprout, playing all the instruments himself, composed and recorded the music in Northport, MI. He sent the tapes to Pollard, who in turn wrote the lyrics, and then recorded the vocals in Dayton, OH, with engineer and pseudonymous GBV collaborator Johnny Strange (aka John Shough) at his famed Cro-Magnon studios. Before the album proper hit the racks, two 7" singles, each in pressings of 1,000 and coupled with outtakes from the LP sessions, were simultaneously released. The fans reacted per expectation -- the entire editions of both singles sold out within days. The duo's full-length, Tower in the Fountain of Sparks, was released in late August of the same year.
© Bryan Carroll /TiVo