Exploded Drawing

For Technical drawing, see Exploded view.

Exploded Drawing
Studio album by Polvo
Released	April 30, 1996
Recorded	October 1995
Genre	Indie rock, math rock
Length	58:48
Label	Touch and Go Records
Polvo chronology
This Eclipse (1995) Exploded Drawing (1996) Shapes (1997)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Entertainment Weekly	B
NME	(6/10)
Chicago Reader	favorable

Exploded Drawing is the third studio album by the rock band Polvo. It was released in 1996 as a CD and double-LP on Touch and Go Records. The album was engineered by Bob Weston.

Reception

Heather Phares of Allmusic called the album "a sonic journey that encompasses nearly every kind of sound that a guitar has been known to make, and a few that might be unheard of until now." She notes the incorporation of "blues, Eastern music, folk, country, and ambient music" into the album's sound "giving each song a twisting, unpredictable quality", despite criticizing its length. According to Entertainment Weekly's Ethan Smith, "despite Polvo’s ongoing virtuosic use of alternative tunings and time signatures, Exploded Drawing disappoints in one major way: The lyrics — now more audible than on previous releases — are not nearly as interesting as the music deserves." Peter Margasak of Chicago Reader writes that the "foursome has discovered a glimmering netherworld at the intersection of alternate tuning, pop hooks, and off-kilter rhythms" on this album. He wrote that despite "still [operating] around the noise/melody axis much like Sonic Youth [did], the stylistic shadows of that influence seem to be receding."

James Oldham of NME gave the album a mixed review, with most of the review itself focusing negatively on the American alternative rock scene of the 90s from which this album emerged, particularly lo-fi music and slacker culture. He criticized its "fiendish pointlessness" and "utterly indulgent riffery [sic]", despite comparing "the delightfully meandering 'High-Wire Moves'" positively to Pavement.

Legacy

In the years following the band's reunion, the album has been viewed in a more positive light. The Line of Best Fit called it a "sprawling double album [that] expanded the band’s sound from the surgically-focused twin guitar assaults to psych, folk, hardcore and all points in between. It felt like an ambitious mission statement from a group not content to simply dole out the riffs to anyone who wanted them". A Treble review of In Prism found it to "bear the same skill and adventurousness" of this album. Pitchfork called the "epic double-album statement" the band's "critical peak [...] which saw them successfully unraveling their bee-swarm guitar buzz to explore the polarities of their sound, from psychedelic-folk lullabies to brutalizing post-hardcore."

Track listing

1. "Fast Canoe" – 6:41
2. "Bridesmaid Blues" – 3:30
3. "Feather of Forgiveness" – 3:45
4. "Passive Attack" – 1:12
5. "Light of the Moon" – 2:12
6. "Crumbling Down" – 3:06
7. "Street Knowledge" – 1:51
8. "High-Wire Moves" – 4:21
9. "Monoloth" – 2:52
10. "In This Life" – 4:05
11. "The Secret's Secret" – 2:03
12. "Snowstorm in Iowa" – 2:23
13. "The Purple Bear" – 3:27
14. "Taste of Your Mind" – 3:50
15. "Missing Receipts" – 1:47
16. "When Will You Die for the Last Time in My Dreams" – 11:43

Personnel

• Ash Bowie - vocals, guitar
• Dave Brylawski - vocals, guitar
• Steve Popson - bass
• Eddie Watkins - drums