Pavement: Brighten The Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition

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.