By Nick Ubels (The Cascade) – Email
Date Posted: September 15, 2011
Print Edition: September 14, 2011
Expertly navigating the treacherous waters that span precision and spontaneity, focus and diversion, significance and wry irreverence, Stephen Malkmus’ Mirror Traffic is an unassuming knockout of an album. Notably, this is his first release since Pavement’s high profile reunion tour last year.
While some fans held out an admittedly desperate hope that the definitive alternative band of the 1990s – and heroes to slackers everywhere – would rekindle the creative fire that once produced five powerhouse records, Malkmus was clear from the start that the band’s limited engagement would be just that. It seems that one well-received reunion tour was not enough to overcome the claustrophobia that caused Malkmus to affix a pair of handcuffs to his mic stand during Pavement’s last appearance at Brixton Academy in 1999 and proclaim, “These symbolize what it’s like being in a band all these years.” Mirror Traffic is, however, both his most Pavement-like release since the dissolution of the band and an inspired step forward.
“I caught you streaking in your Birkenstocks / A scary thought / in the 2ks,” sings Malkmus on the ebullient and rollicking album opener “Tigers.” The track pairs his idiosyncratically so-unearnest-it’s-earnest vocal delivery with an easy, virtuosic melodicism hard-earned by more than 20 years of making music for a living. At 45, Malkmus’ songs still follow the off-kilter, hairpin turns that distinguish his entire catalogue. These detours are unexpectedly graceful here, especially on “Tigers,” where the jive-y rhythm of the intro and verse eases into a slide guitar-powered chorus that recalls the vaguely country inflections of Pavement classics like “Range Life” and “Father to a Sister of Thought.”
Mirror Traffic is bolstered by producer and fellow 90s icon Beck Hansen’s relatively unobtrusive touch which serves to focus Mirror Traffic’s abundant grooves in a much more constructive way than its predecessor Real Emotional Trash’s overly jammy asides. Beck’s influence is most evident on the agile “Stick Figures in Love,” but his presence can be felt throughout the album’s nuanced and wide-open mixes.
Stephen Malkmus is once again accompanied by the Jicks, a crack squad of live and studio vets including Janet Weiss (Sleater-Kinney) on drums, Joanna Bolme (Quasi, Calamity Jane) on bass and Mike Clark (The No-Nos, The Surf Maggots) on guitar. These pros are more than capable of keeping stride with their bandleader’s many whims and their performances give the album a live feel whether or not it was actually recorded in such a manner.
While the Jicks have the opportunity to ply their considerable talents freely on the rest of the album, Malkmus takes a different tack on track two. “No One Is (As I Are Be)” is a rare, gently finger-picked folk number replete with whispered vocals. Indeed, Mirror Traffic’s 15 tracks are rife with a diversity of genre excursions, including “Tune Grief,” a sneering two minute and 12 second punk-fuelled joyride and “Jumblegloss,” an eerie, one-minute instrumental boogie awash with undulating, shimmering guitars.
“Senator,” the album’s first single, has attracted its fair share of clamour over the typically apolitical or at least apathetic Malkmus’ disaffected take on (mostly) government corruption and environmental politics. Most of the controversy is centered on his declaration that “what the senator wants is a blow job,” a lyric which was amended to “corndog” for the radio version after an online contest invited listeners to suggest an FCC-friendly replacement. The track really serves as a focal point for the album with its defiant stop-start delivery and muscular instrumentation. It also boast such other memorable lines as “Dioxin the chemical sunset / your number one subset of all,” and, “My duty to the Republique / Is to use doublespeak / ‘Cause the halo’s off.”
The key to Malkmus’ rampant wordplay and free-associative lyrics is that they often work in service of conveying a theme or mood rather than reproducing a clear narrative. The listener is left with a collection of striking images and unforgettable axioms in place of the usual series of worn out tropes and clichés. Far from oblique, Malkmus leaves a strong impression of personality that is frank, honest and – most importantly – creatively freeing. Who could ask for more?
At once energetic, effortless and raucous, Mirror Traffic is Stephen Malkmus’ most fully-realized and enjoyable listens in years. The shorter running times and spur-of-the-moment lyrics give the album a vitality sorely missing from some of his most recent work. His fifth solo album in 10 years, Mirror Traffic stands up as one of his best. One can only hope that this renewed creative impulse continues to manifest itself in future releases from Pasadena’s favourite son.
