Album Review: Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks – Wig Out At Jag Bags
If Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks’ new album, Wig Out At Jag Bags, sounded much different to their previous five records we might all start worrying about the former Pavement frontman. As it stands however, he retains his slacker image, jangly indie rock and a determination never to voyage much outside of that.
Produced in Belgium by the band and Dutch Soundman Remko Schouten, who’s been with Malkmus since Pavement, Wig Out At Jag Bags is the result of the seminal indie rocker’s time living in Berlin with his family (although they have since moved back to America) and the follow-on from the band’s successful Beck-assisted fifth album Mirror Traffic.
As the record’s lead single, ‘Lariat’, encompasses many of Wig Out At Jag Bag’s delights. Scrappy but not cumbersome, winding but not too lengthy, and up-beat enough to counter any bittersweet lyrical tensions, it’s mischievous in its execution and sets the tone for ‘Chart Junk’ and ‘Cinnamon and Lesbians’.
Malkmus is resound to be unapologetic about his special strand of ‘dad rock’, giving awkward hooks, distorted vocals and occasionally ornate riffs a kick-up the backside, in tracks such as in ‘Planetary Motion’ and happily jumping between Belle & Sebastian-like quirkiness, with wavering instrumentals in ‘The Janitor Revealed’.
‘Rumble Rainbow’ starts as Malkmus punkishly slurs: “This one’s for your Grandad!” as he proves that he is not beyond taking the proverbial Michael out of himself with his distinct lyrical intelligence, for which he is well known and demonstrates throughout Wig Out At Jag Bags. Batting away any false pretence, Malkmus has an acute ability to render anybody not born before the ‘90s entirely silent with his references. He even names one of his songs after popular board game Scattegories, where he mentions other family favourites such as Balderdash and Pictionary.
Determined to give the impression that he’s not taking himself too seriously, Malkmus succeeds in creating an album that reflects his discontent with age, while remaining convinced that his age has given him every advantage in musical taste and cultural grounding. As he suggests in the lyrics to ‘Lariat’, “We grew up listening to the music from the best decade ever … Talking about the A-D-D’s,” and he doesn’t miss a chance to suggest that he’s taking the more rock and roll references from his own experiences, “Bobby Spinning out, I was so messed up. You were drunk and high, just a rambling wreck.”
You get the impression that Malkmus really isn’t trying to compete with anybody and certainly not himself; it’s more that he’s aware he’s an indie rock relic of a bygone era but sees no reason why that should stop him making good music. As with all of his work with the Jicks, Wig Out At Jag Bags, is not likely to find him a new audience but most will find it pleasing.
– Stephanie Parkes
