Stephen Malkmus is the kind of record that ought to matter, but doesn't. The former Pavement frontman's self-titled debut might've made some waves back in the mid-90's heyday of alternative rock, but in today's pop music climate, it'll be lucky just to find its way into the hands of the usual rock critics, record store geeks and indie rock devotees.
It's a shame, too. Stephen Malkmus is exactly the kind of fun, original rock album that could convince the world that rock n' roll isn't dead -- if only someone was listening.
That's not to say this is some kind of towering, artistic achievement that tries to break the mold of forty-odd years of rock history. It's not, and it doesn't try to be. Try Radiohead's Kid A for that.
Stephen Malkmus is the kind of rock record the world really needs now: it's clever, it's catchy and it feels good to sing along with in the car. It is as low-key as Kid A is bombastic, as warm and melodic as the much-heralded Radiohead's album is atonal and experimental. Malkmus has always had a pop heart and the clean production on this record helps songs like "Vague Space" and "Discretion Grove" shine like the radio anthems they might have been -- in a better world, anyway.
On the surface, Malkmus' lyrics have always come off as a certain kind of glib gibberish. His solo debut is no exception to this rule. Whether he's expounding on the joys of being a pirate ("The Hook") or channeling Yul Brynner ("Jo Jo's Jacket"), his lyrics are as goofy and elliptical as ever. As always, though, there is a method to Malkmus' madness. The real subject of the album is the transition from smart aleck twentysomething to young adult.
On "The Hook," he memorializes a failed marriage: "I've tasted death and many other things/I had to pay the piper with my wedding ring."
Malkmus shows a growing fascination with the story song. In "Jenny and the Ess-Dog" the singer-songwriter tells of the doomed relationship between an 18 year-old free spirit and her 31 year-old musician boyfriend.
In Malkmus' hands, the tale is more than quirky character study, it's a reflection on the havoc that growing up can wreak on young relationships. It's goofy, but it's also oddly touching.
That's what Stephen Malkmus is all about: trying to keep a smile on your face as you say goodbye to your youth. It's a fitting solo debut for a musician who once headed up one of the most heralded alternative rock bands of the 1990s, but now finds himself stuck on the outside of the music scene, looking in.
As Malkmus himself once sang, on Pavement's most successful album, 1994's Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, "Goodnight to the rock and roll era/Cause we don't need you anymore."
Stephen Malkmus is a record for people who aren't ready to say goodbye.
