Approximately 14 years after announcing Pavement’s hiatus, the slacker rock band’s frontman Stephen Malkmus is still trying to outrun his first band’s shadow.

In 2000, he formed Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, a band that doesn’t stray too far from the sound that made Pavement famous in the ‘90s. He’s still lazily strumming a muddy guitar. But on the band’s sixth studio album “Wig Out at Jagbags,” there’s a lot more in the mix — too much more, in fact.

The album starts off with “Planetary Motion,” a psychedelic rock track with a complicated rhythm by pop rock standards. The band eases in and out of time signatures, playing four beats, then three, then four again. It’s jarring, especially for fans of Malkmus’ work with Pavement, a band that would have brushed off a time shift as too complicated. What’s worse is that the melody is utterly unmemorable.

This unmemorable quality persists throughout the album.

While Malkmus once doled out simple but catchy melodies song after song, he seems to have opted for experimentation with “Jagbags,” a decision that doesn’t quite gel with the rest of the album’s characteristics. The lyrics are too silly to warrant anything but straightforward music. The juxtaposition of lines from “Lariat,” including, “You got what you want/You want what you got/People look great when they shave,” and unconventional melody makes for a confusing listening experience.

The first good track on the album, “J Smoov,” comes right in the middle. The easy listening, jazzy song features a warm trombone solo and near-perfect production. The music is far-off and reverberant without sacrificing clean sound quality, making it seem like the song is being performed live in a jazz club rather than traveling through headphones.

“J Smoov” is followed by the best song on the album, “Rumble At The Rainbo.” Clocking in at less than two minutes, this punk rock declaration is almost a defense against critics. Malkmus sings, “Come join us in this punk rock tomb / Come slam dancing with some ancient dudes/We are returning, returning to our roots / No new material, just cowboy boots.”

Malkmus is acknowledging that he’s aging — he’s 47 — and that he hasn’t been able to outshine his work with Pavement. The cowboy boots reference acknowledges a country vibe on “Jagbags” that isn’t as prevalent in Malkmus’ earlier work, with either Pavement or the Jicks.

Another standout track, “Independence Street,” draws inspiration from the bluesy guitar sound Pearl Jam made famous in the early ’90s. The song is one of the few that has an obvious story or theme, which is what makes it so much more enjoyable than the majority of the album’s tracks.

“Independence Street” is a song about being alone and wanting someone you can’t have, and it’s also about aging. Malkmus sings, “I don’t have the stomach for your brandy/I can hardly sip your tea/I don’t have no teeth left for your candy/I’m just busy being me.” He admits he is no longer capable of enjoying the sweet things in life by creating a metaphor between a woman and food.

Despite the song’s ability to stand alone, it doesn’t seem to fit in with the rest of “Jagbags.” Because most of Malkmus’ lyrics are so nonsensical and silly, it’s hard to take him seriously when he’s singing about loneliness.

The album ends with “Surreal Teenagers,” a frustratingly random track with a sound that comes completely out of left field. There are elements of Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence,” a style of music that appears nowhere else on the album.

It is literally discouraging to push through all of “Jagbags,” trying to find reason among the madness, only to be left with a song that simply cannot fit in. Malkmus took the small amount of cohesion he had and threw it out the window at the exact moment he should have been tying all the pieces together.

Although it’s to be expected for Malkmus to try to separate himself from Pavement, “Wig Out at Jagbags” shows what happens when a musician tries too hard.

Published on January 13, 2014 at 11:40 pm

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