Watch Stephen Malkmus Play Intimate, Acoustic ‘Solid Silk’
Stephen Malkmus performs a hazy version of “Solid Silk” – a track from his latest LP with the Jicks, Sparkle Hard – in a new solo acoustic video.
Director Brook Linder captures an intimate afternoon in the living room of Malkmus’ Oregon home, where he reclines on the couch and strums a 12-string acoustic guitar. The former Pavement frontman opens with ringing harmonics (“This is the touching intro,” he jokes) before nestling into the track’s soft major chords and lullaby melody. In lieu of a full band, he mouths a trumpet-like solo during the instrumental section.
Malkmus and the Jicks also performed “Solid Silk” and “Refute” last month on CBS This Morning, where the musician also joked, “I’d rather be the dad than the granddad or the great granddad [of indie-rock].”
The band released Sparkle Hard – one of Rolling Stone‘s 50 Best Albums of 2018 So Far – in May. They will promote the album on a North American tour launching July 17th in Petaluma, California.