Review Summary: Listen to me, I'm on the stereo!
Part of what made Pavement so popular in the 90’s was their ability to surprise their audience with every new release. Fans never really knew what to expect. The messy garage-band-sounding Slanted and Enchanted was followed by the clean-produced, well-structured Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. The band then released Wowee Zowee, a highly experimental album that brought them back a little bit closer the their Slanted days. So what was to expect next? What surprise would the ever so polarizing 90’s indie rock quintet send the public’s way this time? Their cult following was really in for a treat with 1997’s Brighten the Corners, the fourth release from the band. The unexpected twist the band brought with Brighten the Corners is that Stephen Malkmus actually poured a little bit of his heart out on some of these songs. Something he had not done too often in the past as one of Pavements shining qualities was that they did not take themselves too seriously. The album contained fine production and song structure similar to what we heard on Crooked Rain, but at this stage of the bands career they were starting to make some deeper more intricate songs. But fear not, as they still have some of their signature catchy wit-filled jams as heard on the opener, “Stereo” and even a bit on “Embassy Row.” However, these types of songs would become more and more scant as the bands career neared its end.
This record certainly contains a more mature sound than the bands previous work, and a bit more thought out lyrics as well. However, the bands well-known sarcasm is still there. Figuring out the meaning of Stephen Malkmus’ lyrics has always been a cumbersome process, but one can’t help but notice a bit more sincerity in some of the songs he wrote at this stage of his career. This can be heard on “Blue Hawaiian:” “Welcome to my friends/This house is a home/And a home's where I belong/Where the feelings are warm/And the foundations are strong/If my soul has a shape/Well, then it is an ellipse/And this slap is a gift.” Brighten the Corners would be a slight glimpse into Malkmus’ post Pavement career with the Jicks. Another new element from the record are the breezy guitar riffs heard throughout the album, most notably on “Old to Begin”, “Type Slowly”, and the beautiful and criminally underrated, “Starlings of the Slipstream,” which are all highlights of Brighten the Corners as they add a bluesy feel to the band’s sound that had never really been heard before.
All of these songs mesh together so nicely, to the point where it is almost difficult to pick out its shining moments. The album is consistently enjoyable throughout. There is definitely more of a rhythmic feel to these songs as the listener cannot help but hear a band growing older and leaving their beloved adolescence, which characterized Slanted and Enchanted, behind. The album also was a big step for Spiral Stairs as a lot of his best work was showcased in “Date with Ikea,” an upbeat track which is one of the albums’ easiest songs to like upon first listen, and “Passat Dream,” a song with a bit more introspective lyrics: “'Cause that's the way to passat babe/That's the car to his soul/He will bring you all the millions of gold, child/If you will only let him have his roll.” These, sadly, were the last songs we would ever hear Spiral Stairs sing in Pavements catalog. One of the nicest sounding songs comes at the end of the album with “Fin,” a slower, calmer, more melodic tune with one of the bands best guitar solos closing it out.
Unfortunately in 1997, the music industry was taking a turn for the worst. Nu-metal and pop were beginning to dominate MTV and radio stations everywhere. The Pavements of the world were becoming a dying breed. Brighten the Corners was a ray of hope for fans of indie rock, who were not yet in the acceptance stage of their genre’s looming death. I would go far enough to say this is Pavements most underrated album. While it is not quite a great album, it is certainly a very good album. Had it not been released around the same time as Radiohead’s OK, Computer, it may have garnered the appreciation that it deserved and still does today. It offered a warmer sound than its predecessors and was one of the last true gems of 90’s indie rock. It showed us that Pavement was by no means a one-trick-pony and practically solidified them as the quintessential indie rock band of the decade.
