Review Summary: Terror Twilight was a massive statement and still is.
The indie scene of the late 80s and 1990s was a sight to behold, if destined not to last. Dinosaur Jr rose to impossible heights behind the impeccable opus You’re Living All Living Over Me, combined with the Pixies’ timeless Surfer Rosa and Pavement’s Slanted and Enchanted, the sky was the limit behind a generation of indie rock slackers.
And yet, the fad went away as soon as it began. The slacker rock/indie fad, in essence, died in 1999 with the release of Pavement’s Terror Twilight only to be replaced with the 2000s indie snobbiness of the likes of Vampire Weekend and Arcade Fire. So, in a way, Terror Twilight was a symbolic end. No longer was the indie scene full of misplaced slackers. Simply, Stephen Malkmus and Scott Kannberg grew up. The old Stephen Malkmus who was name-checking Smashing Pumpkins and, in return, slamming them in his songs was gone. The Stephen Malkmus on Terror Twilight was emotional and more introspective, even using extravagant metaphors for relationships. Looking back upon this burgeoning scene and being utterly confounded at Terror Twilight upon release makes me realize that Terror Twilight is barely a Pavement album. It began a trend that Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie has tweaked to perfection as well as the countless members of the sad, emotional indie rock club.
Terror Twilight was a massive statement and still is. And I’ll go so far as to say as it’s Pavement at their finest. Never has the band shown so much restraint and contentment, but Pavement sounded tighter and more daring than they
ever have. It takes a lot of guts to release such a relaxed, emotional album like Terror Twilight after the utter spastic nature of Slanted and Enchanted. But they did it here. And no song on Terror Twilight showcases Pavement being more daring than the album’s centerpiece, Major Leagues. A song synonymous with the end of Pavement is also probably one of Malkmus’s best. Major Leagues is one of those cheesy “end of (something)” songs like Green Day’s Good Riddance in aura; slow, atmospheric, relaxed and melancholic. But it’s the centerpiece of the album. It’s the song Ben Gibbard wished he could write. The rest of Terror Twilight doesn’t fail to disappoint; as long as you realize this isn’t the same band that wrote Winter Babe.
Nigel Godrich produced Terror Twilight and it’s very apparent. More than a few tracks on here sound like Radiohead in places (mostly Spit on a Stranger or the guitar breakdown in Platform Blues) but nonetheless it works. Godrich expanded on the gritty sound and made it into an intense, massive and epic sound. Spit on a Stranger is catchy, melodic and Kannberg’s riff is instantly recognizable and Malkmus actually singing in tune. It’s one of Pavement’s most memorable singles and for good reason. Cream of Gold is a looked over masterpiece and about as close to the old Pavement sound as possible. Slower verses and a bit distorted but ridiculous catchy chorus line makes it sound like a reined in B-side from past albums. And The Hexx is perhaps the most progressive track Malkmus ever wrote, it’s dark, long and complex changing rhythms consistently.
There’s only so many ways to describe Terror Twilight. It’s Pavement’s In Utero. Fans bicker and fight over whether it’s good. Well, considering that Terror Twilight essentially ended a genre on a fairly good note, I’d say the album was a damn fine success. This album, the sound of a band falling apart, also was the sound of an entire era falling apart and being reborn.
