“This is not a project—it’s a band,” Stephen Malkmus has said of his new group with seasoned players Matt Sweeney (Chavez), Jim White (The Dirty Three), and Emmett Kelly (Ty Segall, Cairo Gang). “We’re all jazzed.” Listening to their debut album, it’s hard to argue with Malkmus. While all four had previously collaborated with other members of the group, The Hard Quartet marks the first time they’d collaborated as a unit. They say there was instant chemistry, though, and with three songwriters they had nearly an album’s worth of songs after the first week of playing together.
They wrote so many songs, in fact, that their debut is a double, but it’s one that sails by thanks to the variety and quality on display here.
Variety is really the key to “The Hard Quartet” Malkmus, Sweeney, and Kelly all bring songs to the group, each with a distinct but complementary style. All four are credited with the music but usually the lyrics are by the lead vocalist.
Malkmus delivers lots of memorable, very Malkmus’ lines (“Denim and door knobs that was our kink,” “Can you dredge emotion from me?”), a couple of his most Pavement-y songs since Pavement (“Thug Dynasty,” “Renegade”), at least three songs that reference rats, and one of his sweetest love songs ever (“Hey”). Sweeney, meanwhile, brings swagger on “Rio’s Song” and “It Suits You,” and folky choogle on “Jacked Existence” and “Killed by Death” which is one of the best songs on the album.
Kelly contributes two but they’re both great: the jangly, bittersweet “Our Hometown Boy,” and the dirgey “North of the Border.” As for White, who does let his Aussie accent fly, briefly, on “Action for the Military Boys,” he brings his dexterous, wide-range of skills behind the kit. It’s rare for him these days to play such a straight-ahead rock and this album make you glad someone is having him do it here. They are a cohesive unit, this Hard Quartet, a real, very good band, who hopefully will continue beyond this great record.
released October 4th, 2024 Matador Records
The Fat Angel Sings 