Brighten the Corners

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.^[2]

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.^[3]

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.^[3]

The album title was in reference to "Brighten The Corner Where You Are", a gospel hymn written by Homer Rodeheaver in the early 1900s.^[4]

Brighten the Corners was released on February 11, 1997, by Matador Records.^[5] 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.^{[citation needed]}

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."^[6] The track "Blue Hawaiian" has been described as a "sleazed-up organ-fest."^[7]

More information Review scores, Source ...

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
Chicago Tribune	[9]
Christgau's Consumer Guide	A[10]
Entertainment Weekly	B[11]
Los Angeles Times	[12]
NME	6/10[13]
Pitchfork	8.6/10[14]
Rolling Stone	[15]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[16]
Spin	8/10[17]

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Brighten the Corners received very positive reviews from critics and was ranked No. 10 in The Village Voice's 1997 Pazz & Jop critics' poll.^[18] 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.^[19]

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."^[6]