Having helmed Pavement for the balance of the '90s, Stephen Malkmus [ tickets ] walked away in November 1999. His self-titled solo debut, which was released by Matador Records in February, glistens with a glossier pop shine than his former band's efforts.

Famous for his obscure references and non-linear story telling with Pavement, Malkmus takes a more direct approach on the new album, but the stories are still strange. In a recent conversation with liveDaily correspondent Colin Devenish, Malkmus talked about the recording of the new album, including the hilarious "Jo Jo's Jacket," which features a quick sketch of Yul Brynner's filmography and some thoughts on Christmas.

LiveDaily: Was Pavement broken up before you started writing for this album?

Malkmus: Yeah, basically. A couple tunes were from the old era. "Chruch on White" and maybe "Trojan Curfew" and a couple slower ones were songs I had lying around. But basically it was over.

How involved were the Jicks in the writing of the album?

Not too much in the writing. It was all kind of done on my demo thing, similar to the Pavement stuff. All parts were basically there, with room for interpretation. They weren't involved so much in the writing, but [in] arranging and their own individual playing of notes. They certainly have room to play whatever they want as long as it's good.

What was it like recording with a new band?

You're kind of starting from ground zero. It was a bit similar to working with [Pavement drummers] Gary Young or Steve West on the first albums I did with those guys--"Slanted and Enchanted" or "Crooked Rain"--where everyone's on good behavior, like "Hey, it's great to be a band and how fun it is." It's like a relationship, you might say--you bring all the flowers and you pull everything out a tiny bit. So that was going on, that was good.

[Bolme and Moen are] veterans. They know what to do. They're playing in lots of other bands--at least, they were at the time--so there wasn't any expectation about how it was going to come out, or what we were going to do next year. At the time with Pavement, it was more like you were sort of like a hamster on a treadmill.

Where did you work?

I did some of the stuff onto my sampler here, but generally we did it at this place out in Oregon City, about a half-hour out of town at a place called Supernatural. It's not even in the phone book, but it's a full studio with a big room. Kind of cheap, but good equipment and stuff. We did a lion's share of the mixing at Jackpot, the local indie studio here run by the guy who runs Tape Op [a recording studio-oriented magazine].

Do you ever feel like people focus so much on the abstract quality of your lyrics that they miss the humor, like the line about "Mediterranean thugs" in "The Hook," or the voice moaning about the cold in "Phantasies?"

I'm not really sure. I only really talk to critics about lyrics, and I think they're just trying to make a story and get it in a few words. ... It takes two sentences to say there's some non-sequitur images and there's some strange storytelling.

Tell me a little bit about how Yul Brynner factors into "Jo Jo's Jacket."

Those were kind of joke lyrics at the start. The song is pretty giddy, and I don't want to be Mr. Psychedelic on it or something--which would probably be the only way you could go on it, you know--so I was like, "I'm going to keep it more trashy and about Yul Brynner."

I started with, "I'm not what you think I am/I'm the King of Siam, yes, yes I am." Kind of a Dr. Suessy style thing. And that led to Yul Brynner, because he was in that [movie, "The King and I"], and that led to "Westworld," and that led to robotic baldheaded people for the next verse. It makes sense until the last lines about Christmas Day and the candy cane stuff--that [stuff] just sounded good to me.

You use samples of a guy moaning about the cold in "Phantasies," and a brief interlude of Yul Brynner talking on "Jo Jo's Jacket." What appeals to you about having these kind of extras?

I like having the aside guy, the person saying something other than me. It’s more atmosphere, too. ... In some ways, it's making it more interesting to listen to--no matter what, bottomline--regardless of commentary.

What are you listening to these days?

A lot of classic rock. It's always still hard to fault that kind of music. It's still better. I like some of the new metal. In some ways, I'm looking for reasons to like it--like the Deftones, I kind of like them. I like Korn better than Limp Bizkit--I want to try to like them but it doesn't do it for me. I like Radiohead a lot. "OK Computer"--I actually like to listen to that. I tend to go back to that older stuff. It blows me away more.