STARS ON PARADE
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BYJAMES CROWLEY
@jamespcrowley68What inspired you to make a folk album?
I was sort of curious to see what my songs put
through that prism would be. That wish combined
with the possibility to do it, because Chris Funk [of
indie rock band The Decemberists], who helped
organize it, offered me the relative easy ability to
throw together a band to make it happen in my
hometown. I would say those two things: oppor-
tunity and desire.
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Song to song, I pictured myself as kind of a Gor-
don Lightfoot-style existential troubadour—a lit-
tle bit melancholy and singing in a lower register
with a bit more gravitas than some things I do
and quieter. Certain voices or styles of singing
would pop up in my head. I would sound like
Lou Reed for a second, or folky things like Bert
Jansch—Bob Dylan even. A lot of ’60s guys.,VWKHUHDWKHPDWLFWKUHDGWKDWUXQV
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you see them as individual songs?
It’s hard for me to be the arbiter of
that. I don’t think that way necessar-
ily. When I said I was the existential
troubadour, which is kind of ridiculous, I don’t
know what to say. If you notice something, tell me,
and I’ll probably agree.,ŠPDOZD\VFXULRXVLIDQDUWLVWWKLQNVDERXWDQ
album as a whole when they’re writing it, or if
they’re just going song to song.
I would want to use a language that was of our
time and not completely retro. At times, if it’s
sounding like it was made on a porch or in an in-
cense-drenched Afghan-carpet studio, I don’t think
I want the lyrics to just take you back to incense
and peppermints. I used some of my own modern
jargon and ideas updating some of our neuroses
from today [laughs].My favorite song on the album is “The Greatest
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Originally I imagined it as one of [’70s power pop
band] Big Star’s softer ballads in
terms of melody, but then it slowed
down—and then I was maybe vocal-
ly in a Bob Dylan sound. I came up
with the tagline: I was on a “greatest
own” of something. When I got tosinger and guitarist stephen malkmus became one of the most respected voices in modern
rock when his band Pavement arrived on the scene 30 years ago. The band recorded a number of
critically-acclaimed records such as Slanted and Enchanted (1992), Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994) and
Brighten the Corners (1997)—that have often appeared on music critics’ “best albums” lists. While Malkmus
is hesitant to talk about his legacy today, his influence can be heard across the current crop of indie rock
artists, whether it’s the frantic pop-punk of musicians such as Jeff Rosenstock or the groove-oriented,
swaggering indie rock of a band like Wolf Parade.
After Pavement went on hiatus in 1999, Malkmus entered the second phase in his career as the leader
of the Jicks, who have recorded seven well-received albums. Of late, he has branched out of the indie
rock genre, sans the Jicks, starting with 2019’s electronic-dominated Groove Denied. Now he is making
another stylistic and radical musical departure with Traditional Techniques, a ’60s-styled folk album
due out on March 6. Traditional Techniques invokes both the simplicity of storytelling troubadours like
Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, but veers into psychedelia reminiscent of the The Doors. Nonetheless,
this is a record for a 2020 audience.
Malkmus, 53, will of course tour to support Traditional Techniques in North America, starting on March
31 in Minneapolis. But here’s some big news: He will also reunite with Pavement in June at the Primavera
Sound festival in Spain and Portugal. Malkmus talked all about it with Newsweek. Edited Excerpts: