Matador's biennial mission to give each Pavement
album the deluxe reissue treatment continues. This year, it's Brighten The
Corners,
the band's fourth and most unassuming album. It isn't the stunning debut that
accidentally kicked indie rock off the couch and into the spotlight. It isn't
the slump-averting sophomore effort, the jammy, self-indulgent record, or the
swan song. Its one gimmick is its name producer, Mitch Easter, whose stamp is
decidedly transparent. The original 12 songs cover a wide swath of familiar
territory—the effortless bounce of "Stereo," the wistful yearning of "Shady
Lane," the prog twists of "Transport Is Arranged." The best songs surprise in
some way. In "Blue Hawaiian," Stephen Malkmus actually raps, and it works. "Embassy
Row" is uncharacteristically ferocious, tearing a four-minute hole in the
record and filling it with a paranoiac dread that's still resonant in the
post-9/11 era.
Like most modern reissues, this one contains a
wealth of B-sides and curios to sift through. Some are fun, like the nasty,
thrashing "Wanna Mess You Around," but some are for completists only, like two
stabs at a Space Ghost theme. Covers of Echo And The Bunnymen, The Clean, and The
Fall reveal the roots of indie rock, that squirrelly non-genre that Pavement
will forever be tied to. This second pass at Brighten The Corners catches the band bucking and embracing that
connection.