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
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
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