Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Wig Out At Jagbags

If the fabulous title of Stephen Malkmus’ sixth album, ‘Wig Out at Jagbags’ (he also, apparently, had ‘Morrissey’s Trainwrecked Daughter’, ‘New Yoga for Cleavage Hounds’, ‘Swingers Blowing Freddie’ and ‘Chocolate Euros’ as potential titles) tells you anything it’s that, thankfully, some things don’t change. Stephen Malkmus is still witty and urbane. Stephen Malkmus still has an effortless ear for melody. Basically, Stephen Malkmus is still uniquely Stephen Malkmus.

Six albums into his solo career we don’t find him dramatically changing the template but we do find him, for the most part, in calmer, more reflective mood. This is a gentler record than previous outing ‘Mirror Traffic’ but like that record it focuses on the concise melodies that wriggle their way into your head, rather than the jammier efforts of some of his past works. You’ll find graceful guitar, acoustic strums, a lot of brass and a lightness of touch.

There’s also, of course, that pleasing wit he’s renowned for. ‘We lived on Tennyson and venison and The Grateful Dead /It was Mudhoney summer, Torch of Mystics, Double bummer’ he sings on single ‘Lariat’, which is up there with one of the best things he’s ever written. Opener ‘Planetary Motion’, though rockier, weaves its way along a similar path in its 60s inspired garage-pop ballad way, his lilting voice welcoming you in.

As is the way all the way back from Pavement, the complicated is made to feel simple and breezy. He manages to create tracks that are infectious and catchy at the same time as deconstructing pop. (He’s claimed, tongue firmly in cheek, that the record is partly inspired by ‘Stephen-Malkmus-imagined Weezer / Chili Peppers’).

There are some rocking moments on the dense submerged sounding ‘Shibboleth’ and the fuzzy ‘Rumble At The Rainbow’ but elsewhere, ‘J Smoov’ has the same sun kissed feel as ‘Gold Soundz’ and ‘Chartjunk’’s breezy brass and irresistible rhythm can’t but help but leave a smile on your face.

Not everything hits the mark, however: ‘Cinnamon and Lesbians’ doesn’t match the heights of its title while ‘Surreal Teenagers’ only comes to life in the last of its 5 minutes.

But the album as a whole show he still has it, however you define ‘it’. As one might expect from a self-aware 47-year old in the rock game there’s some lyrics deal with looking back. On ‘Rumble At The Rainbow’ he pleads, ‘Come and join us in this punk rock tomb / Come slam dancin’ with some ancient dudes… no new material just cowboy boots’, yet Pavement reunions are far from anyone’s mind as you listen. It’s the type of line only he could write. So while Malkmus might still be Malkmus that doesn’t make him any easier to define. Pop-rock deconstructionist, art-rock godfather, Portland father and family man: all these elements come through here and it makes this album a triumph.