Brighten the Corners


Brighten the Corners is the fourth studio album by American indie rock band Pavement, released on February 11, 1997 by Matador Records. The album received very positive reviews from critics.

Background and recording

Brighten the Corners was recorded at Mitch Easter's Drive-In Studio in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. According to singer and guitarist Stephen Malkmus, it was either Matador Records or Mary Timony from Helium who suggested that the band should record the album there.
Although Brighten the Corners was mostly produced by Pavement and Bryce Goggin, Easter worked with the band for roughly a week when Goggin left the studio.
The recording sessions involved extensive editing, and the band would often record several versions of the same song before deciding on a final take. The vocals were then recorded in New York separately.
The album title was in reference to "Brighten The Corner Where You Are", a gospel hymn written by Homer Rodeheaver in the early 1900s.

Release

Brighten the Corners was released on February 11, 1997, by Matador Records. In 2008, Matador released Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Edition, a compilation containing Brighten the Corners in its entirety, as well as B-sides and other rarities from the same era.

Music

The music on Brighten the Corners has been characterized as "melodic but complex." According to Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic: "The record is calm, with none of the full-out blasts of noise that marked all of their previous releases." The track "Blue Hawaiian" has been described as a "sleazed-up organ-fest."

Critical reception

Brighten the Corners received very positive reviews from critics and was ranked No. 10 in The Village Voices 1997 Pazz & Jop critics' poll. In the poll's accompanying essay, Robert Christgau referred to the album as one of his "favorite albums of the year, easy", alongside those by Yo La Tengo, Sleater-Kinney, and Arto Lindsay.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave the album four stars out of five, writing: "While the preponderance of slow songs and laid-back production makes the album more focused than Wowee Zowee, it doesn't have the rich diversity of its predecessor -- 'Type Slowly' comes closest to the grand, melancholic beauty of 'Grounded' -- but it remains a thoroughly compelling listen."

Personnel

Pavement

Technical