STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JINKS – MIRROR TRAFFIC

Whilst the recent reunion/revival tour may have introduced Pavement to a new/younger set of ears, it remains an inescapable (and personally disconcerting) fact they they now belong to those in their middle age! Stephen Malkmus has been operating with The Jinks for longer than he did with Pavement, and here on their fifth album he seems to have found a new peak. With long time friend and fellow 90’s hipster Beck twiddling the knobs Mirror Traffic provides the sort of lyrical word play and musical punch that Malkmus has always been capable of but not always delivered. His opening words – “I caught you streaking in your Birkenstocks / 
A scary thought / In the 2K’s.” – put us on immediate notice, the man is in form. From there whether its the Senator wanting a blow job or “putzing” around on the Internet, Malkmus’ slightly off-kilter wry observations are back. Meanwhile Beck has the Jinks on form – tight and punchy, slow and hazy, or rocking out slacker style – one of the strengths here is the variety that has sometimes been lacking in Malkmus output. “No-one is perfect” that’s true, but Mirror Traffic is a bloody good attempt at it.

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