Today, you can watch a brand-new video for the Pavement B-side ‘Harness Your Hopes’, directed by Alex Ross Perry (Her Smell) and starring Sophie Thatcher (Yellowjackets).
The song is drawn from the Spit on a Stranger EP, which Matador will reissue as a 12” on April 8th alongside the release of Terror Twilight: Farewell Horizontal. Pre-order HERE.
A bit of background: ‘Harness Your Hopes‘ was originally released in 1999 on the CD-edition of the Spit on a Stranger EP, which included the titular ‘Terror Twilight’ single plus four previously unreleased tracks. Needless to say, the song’s “hit-potential” was misjudged at that time. In 2020 – for reasons that remain mysterious – ‘Harness Your Hopes’ became something of a viral sensation on streaming services and Tiktok, ultimately clocking tens of millions of listens.
Whether you first heard it as a piece of late-’90s fans-only arcana or as the soundtrack to a stranger’s dance routine, today you can experience the song again as a miniature history of Pavement on film – splicing Thatcher into the band’s classic music videos.
Also on April 8th, Matador will release Terror Twilight: Farewell Horizontal, an exhaustive 45-track set compiling the remastered original album, B-sides, home demos, rehearsal tapes, era-appropriate live recordings, and even the rough tracks from Pavement’s scrapped session at Sonic Youth’s Echo Canyon studio. Altogether, it features 28 unreleased tracks. The 4xLP and 2xCD editions will include a book with never-before-seen photos and commentary/context from band members Mark Ibold, Stephen Malkmus, Bob Nastanovich, Spiral Stairs, and Steve West as well as producer Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Beck).
Pavement are Mark Ibold, Scott “Spiral Stairs” Kannberg, Stephen Malkmus, Bob Nastanovich and Steve West. Among the most beloved acts to come out of the American underground in the 1990’s, the band released five era-defining albums – Slanted And Enchanted (1992), Crooked Rain (1994), Wowee Zowee (1995), Brighten The Corners (1997) and Terror Twilight (1999) – before disbanding in 1999. Pavement’s 2010 reunion saw them play four sold out shows in Central Park and top the bills of festivals worldwide including Coachella, Primavera Sound, and Pitchfork.
SPIT ON A STRANGER EP TRACK LIST
Spit on a Stranger
Harness Your Hopes
Roll With the Wind
The Porpoise and the Hand Grenade
Rooftop Gambler
Harness Your Hopes (Live Brixton Academy, 1999)
PAVEMENT ONLINE
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