Wall-of-pop-guitar band Guided by Voices [ tickets ] has released a new EP, "Hold on Hope" (TVT Records), which includes eight unreleased songs from the band's "Do the Collapse" album sessions. The band will tour the Midwest and West coast in March and April.

"Hold on Hope" displays a range of related influences (Big Star, the Beatles, the Byrds), all poured into an indie-guitar/folk-rock format, often with harmony vocal overdubs.

Tracks include the Alex Chilton-like "Fly Into Ashes" ("Unoffocial study guides will help you when you're ready, boy," sings vocalist Robert Pollard in his characteristic broad-range style); and "A Crick Uphill," which quotes a bit of the bass part from the Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" and shows attention to lyrics with lines like "Hot soup boils in the wretched coils of the clock collector's click."

Other tracks are very short numbers, like the folky "Tropical Robots;" some have a garage sound, like "Idiot Princess.'' The album concludes with "Hold on Hope," the radio single from the band's first TVT album, "Do the Collapse."

The Dayton, Ohio band has nine road dates for March and April, mainly in Midwest clubs. After that, the band heads to the West coast for co-headlining dates with Matthew Sweet. Touring personnel includes vocalist Robert Pollard, guitarist Doug Gillard, guitarist Nate Farley, bassist Tim Thobias and drummer Jim MacPherson, according to a TVT spokesperson.