Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks ‘Mirror Traffic’

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
‘Mirror Traffic’
(Matador)

It’s difficult to know quite what you’re going to get from Pavement frontman and indie rock royalty Stephen Malkmus. While his 2001 self-titled solo debut and ‘Pig Lib’, his first LP with band The Jicks (in title), are driven and focussed, much like ‘Terror Twilight’-era Pavement, he is capable of meandering stadium rock riffs and childish wordplay as heard in the slightly odd ‘Real Emotional Trash’. So how does ‘Mirror Traffic’ size up, then?

‘Tigers’
There’s faint pedal-steel guitars and a simplistic chord progression from the off here, and the immediate sense is that we’re in sober Malkmus territory. That’s fine, though: ‘Tigers’ is a cohesive and clever pop song, ended with a frantic time-signature change, in case you were getting comfortable.

‘No One Is (As I Are Be)’
This song title is a grammatical nightmare that would give any English teacher a stroke, but ‘No One Is (As I Are Be)’ is a piano-led, tender effort about fatigue and growing old and out of pocket: “unfortunate that none of us will get away spared/from the never-ending nightlife that we share”. As the head of the Stephen Malkmus Stalking Club, it’s a little worrying to hear him resigned to ageing like this, but it’s a cerebral, gentle take on midlife.

‘Senator’

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Senator by DominoRecordCo

It’s difficult to identify many lyrical themes with Malkmus, given that the majority of his lyrics are stream-of-consciousness rants, but early in this LP, there are winks and nods at a discussion of class warfare. This particular song looks at power, with audacious lyrics that would have John Boehner shuffling uncomfortably in his seat: “I know what the senator wants, what the Senator wants is a blowjob”. This is a really good song, and a very obvious single, despite the whole fellatio aspect.

‘Brain Gallop’
File this under: Malkmus Guitar Noodling Song, in the best way, obviously. Snappy and sardonic, from the first second it’s quite obvious this song is building towards to a guitar solo, although lyrically and structurally, this is the most at ease Malkmus recording since ‘Gardenia’ from ‘Real Emotional Trash’. Then at the 4-minute mark he just lets go. It’s ace, frankly.

‘Jumblegloss’
Strictly speaking, this is an interlude. Running at just over a minute long, it’s a reverb-heavy, woozy piece, with a riff at the end that really deserves to be developed.

‘Asking Price’
Who else can repeat a line like “The distortion is way too clear” while rolling of a scuzzy riff towards the end of a track on an album produced by Beck without sounding conceited? Lyrically, this is a maze of a song, but structurally it’s a pretty safe effort, with glistening guitar lines and a walking bass line. From the ‘Range Life’ mindset of pretty, summery songs

‘Stick Figures In Love’
So this is how you write an indie pop song. With the fuzziest of riffs breaking up delightful verses crowned by interesting chord progressions, it’s pretty obvious that Beck’s done a fine job of harnessing Malkmus’ multiple song writing personalities into a package that’s saccharine without being sickly and purely pop without losing edge.

‘Spazz’
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS KLAXON: You shouldn’t call songs ‘Spazz’, really. Logistically, in the most twisted way, it’s pretty justified by both the typically bizarre word choice and the unsubtle LOUDquietLOUD structure. This is a fun, little firecracker of a song.

‘Long Hard Book’
What a contrast to the hysterical ‘Spazz’; there’s nothing really terrible about this song, it’s just very… vanilla, well, by Malkmus standards anyway. Even a thickly Big Muffed guitar part at the end doesn’t scoop this track out of filler territory. Sort of a waste.

‘Share The Red’
Again, this and ‘Long Hard Book’ map out a fairly self-indulgent part of ‘Mirror Traffic’. It’s not so much a quality thing, these aren’t bad songs, but they fall flat in comparison to the rest of this album. Underwhelming, but on a plus, provides good balance for the more out-of-control moments that give the LP character.

‘Tune Grief’
This song is absolutely fantastic. Loud and brash, it’s a joy to hear Malkmus at his most acerbic and playful. Glorious harmonies, some fantastic guitar noise and then it’s all over far too soon. A little reminiscent of ‘Flux=Rad’ in parts, Pavement fans.

‘Forever 28′
We always thought only J Masciswas allowed to do palm-muting because frankly, he’s the only guitarist we don’t mind doing it, mainly because his Jazzmaster’s always hella-loud anyway. Turns out his contemporary isn’t too bad either, as he too lets a restrained verse (that sounds enough like that ‘Golden Touch’ song by Razorlight to make me more than a little uncomfortable) slide into a searing, triumphant solo. Trying to fit a reference to ‘The 27 Club’ here is more difficult than first thought.

‘All Over Gently’
Back to being sensible, this a rambunctious, folksy song that harks, again, to ‘Terror Twilight’ Pavement. Who would’ve thought that Pavement’s least critically acclaimed (but shamefully overlooked) record would inform the sound of well-received solo efforts? As a track, this sums up the whole record well, with witty lyrics and playful guitars but primarily, hugely focussed melodies guided by an experienced hand mellowed by parenthood and rebuilt confidence.

‘Fall Away’
However you rate the Pavement frontman as a singer, you’d have to have the hardest heart to be over-critical of him here; ‘Fall Away’ has a gorgeous chorus, cupped gently with blissful harmonies. A really pretty song, curtain-called with panpipes, is this an indie first?

‘Gorgeous Georgie’
Malkmus can’t resist a good end-of-album ballad, can he? While this totally impartial listener will always think ‘Fin’ is the best LP closer ever made, this isn’t exactly bad either; lyrically it’s a bit all over the place (“No sugar for William”, “Poor Ginger/she makes an appearance again/she is sleeping with my cousin”), but as per Malkmus standard, it sounds like there’s a logical, progressive story when there really isn’t. The final third of the song feels like it’s building up to something greater, before a finale of short squeals of guitar, a teaser for more.

A succinct end to an album that showcases both Malkmus’ unkempt, fuzzy guitar audacity and propensity for crafting gently cradled melodies: a sound which is both mature and exciting.

‘Mirror Traffic’ is reviewed in August’s issue of The Fly.