This former elementary school teacher from Dayton, OH, may have put an end to the Guided by Voices moniker, but by no means has he slowed down.

Boasting 16 songs in a little over 35 minutes, "Normal Happiness," Robert Pollard [ tickets ]’s second album of 2006, follows the two-disc set "From a Compound Eye." Stylistically, the new album feels like a continuation of "Compound Eye," but with less to rave about.

Pollard’s gift is knocking out brilliant nuggets of pop brevity. "Normal Happiness" milks that, with each song clocking in around the two-minute mark. Todd Tobias again acts as the album's producer, filling in on instrumentation while adding overdubs to Pollard's skeletal blueprints.

Die-hard Guided By Voices fans and Pollard devotees will find much enjoyable fare to chew on here, but the casual listener would do better to first investigate "Compound Eye," or selections from the GBV canon.