With its vast array of musical styles,
Wowee Zowee isn't as accessible as
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain or as immediate as the bracing, noisy
pop of
Slanted & Enchanted.
Pavement never abandon their warped
pop aesthetic, they simply expand it, incorporating elements of
folk-rock, English
music hall,
soul,
jazz,
country, as well as adding asides to such contemporaries as
Suede (
"We Dance"),
Ween (
"Brinx Job"), and
Stereolab (
"Half a Canyon"). Alternating between majestic epics like
"Grounded" and ragged narratives like
"Rattled by the Rush" and
"Father to a Sister of Thought," to song fragments like
"Brinx Job" and the punkish
"Serpentine Pad," the record might seem disjointed at first. After repeated listens, the songs play off each other, creating a dense collage of '90s
rock & roll that recasts the past and present into one rich, kaleidoscopic, and blissfully cryptic world view. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
