Mistrial

I hated Wowee Zowee the first time I heard it, and the second, and the third. After the infectious rants on Slanted and Enchanted and the lazy pop of Crooked Rain, that album's tunes sounded self-serving, cryptic, and, most of all, frustrating. Songs that promised anthemic resolution petered out after a verse, melodic guitar solos veered off into staticky wanking, and aimless organ parts and rambling vocals replaced hooks. After a few listens, though, I warmed up to Wowee Zowee--I stopped expecting what the album didn't deliver, and started to see the beauty in its surprises.

Steven Malkmus and company delight in frustrating expectations, in setting up perfect pop songs and then diffusing all their tension, leaving something messier and more difficult. Which is why the jury's still out on the breathlessly expected Brighten the Corners, although the early word is promising. Pavement still likes to jerk its listeners around, but they've returned a little to the easy charm they perfected in "Cut Your Hair"-era Crooked Rain. There are a few catchy gems that reward right away, like the hard-driving "Embassy Row" and the idyllic "Shady Lane." Brighten the Corners doesn't mark a real divergence from the territory that Pavement's been covering for the last few years, and I could have pictured any of its songs on any of their most recent albums. Luckily, the good stuff, of which there's plenty, remains intact. Maybe a little too intact. At times, Malkmus's schtick gets gimmicky. There are the tossed-off clever lyrics, which devolve at times into fancy-sounding gibberish, the lazy "I'm too hip to try too hard" vocals, the shambling verses that morph into anthemic choruses. It's all a bit formulaic. But hey, the formula works. And so does Pavement, as long as I don't quite know what to expect.

--Darby Saxbe

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