Friday 19th of April saw the release of ‘Dark Matter‘ — the latest Pearl Jam album and the 12th of their long and illustrious career. Produced by Grammy award winner and confessed Pearl Jam super-fan Andrew Watt, a marriage of something old, something new, something borrowed permeates throughout the album’s 11 tracks.
As the band and Watt alluded to during various pre-release interviews, the opening of ‘Dark Matter’ has a ‘Master/Slave’ ambient soundscape akin to ‘Ten’ — the first of many conscious nods to their history, before segueing into ‘Scared of Fear‘. It is probably their best album opener since ‘Go’, which was (of course) from 1993’s ‘Vs’. The band are energised and focused throughout a blistering track, with Eddie conveying the song’s emotional core via the lyrical hook:
“You’re hurting yourself, it’s plain to see
I think you’re hurting yourself just to hurt me
We used to laugh, we used to sing
We used to dance, we had our own scene…”
Stone provides a signature, atypical and angular guitar part that battles with, yet somehow perfectly compliments, the rhythmic assault in the form of a Jeff Ament/Matt Cameron axis. A perfect platform is thus, constructed for Mike McCready to unleash one of his most ferocious, finely-crafted solos this side of ‘Animal’.
As an opener, it feels almost like a statement of intent…
‘React, Respond‘ picks up where ‘Do The Evolution’ left off with shades of ‘Habit’ thrown in for good measure. It is a song with a deceptively complex arrangement much like ‘Evolution’, and a vocal delivery that finds Eddie harnessing that on-the-edge-of-manic, almost spoken melody to great effect. Lyrically, although it might be about the general political divide the USA in particular finds itself in:
“Are we at war with each other?
Are you at war with yourself?
We could be fighting together
Instead of fighting ourselves”
I could not escape the feeling it was directly addressing Trump and his numerous criminal trials with:
“I see you worried and hurried
As if addressing the jury
Oh, you are innocent
‘Til proven innocent
You are hurting and it’s so magnificent”
Not only is there a great energy to the song, it sounds like the band are genuinely having fun playing it. I fully expect this will become a fan-favourite once it has been experienced live.
‘Wreckage‘. This. Song. Wow. From the moment I first heard this at the pre-release listening party, I could not stop thinking about it. Put very simply, it might be the best pop-rock song they have ever written. Pop is often a dirty word in music, especially for a rock band. In my opinion, it simply means tapping into those elements of your music that connect with people on a broader scale, whilst retaining your identity. The Tom Petty influence is obvious (and always welcome), however, it still maintains the elements that make it uniquely Pearl Jam.
The beauty of this song lies in its simplicity. A simple, strumming four-chord verse is followed by an even simpler bridge that hangs just long enough before the one-line chorus of “combing through the wreckage” knocks at your door, lets itself in, and makes itself at home in your conscious (and subconscious) mind for the rest of your life. It is a roommate I will be happy to host for as long as they want to stay.
‘Dark Matter‘ had already worked its way into my daily listening habits after being released as the first single, and on reflection, it was an outstanding choice that perfectly encapsulated what the album would offer. Hearing Jeff play his 12-string Hamer bass on a recorded track for the first time since the ‘Vs’ era indicated to me that the band were comprehensively onboard and open to reincorporating some of the elements that made the earlier material so beloved. Again, the lyrics point towards political turmoil, however, this time my gut-feeling is Putin is the focal point of Eddie’s ire.
“Eroding away
Pulling apart
In all of this dark matter
Once heard it said
And it stuck in my head
Arrested the press
No one knows what happened next
Renounce the demagogues
King Diamond to discard
Deploy the dialogue
Your word against the law
It’s strange these days
When everybody else pays
For someone else’s mistake
This blame takes shape
Still, everybody else pays
For someone else’s mistake.”
During a recent interview, Stone revealed the song was born from a Matt Cameron drum pattern, with Stone and Jeff going home and writing the respective musical parts that would then make up the framework of the arrangement. Matt drives the song from start to finish, with a similar kind of vitality found on any number of Soundgarden recordings, and an urgency that can sometimes be strangely missing from his work with Pearl Jam. Occasionally it feels like he plays within himself, nonetheless on ‘Dark Matter’ — both single and album, there is a sense of throwing down the gauntlet and challenging the rest of the band to keep up, if they dare. It is an essential element to the overall power and cohesion that weaves throughout the music.
‘Won’t Tell‘ is three minutes of unabashed pop with an almost 80’s sounding synth-laden chorus. It contains one of the most beautifully descriptive lyrics on the entire album:
“As she smiled and played a minor chord
In a key I never heard before, one song and it was done”
I am not sure they have ever veered in to this territory, musically, before. There is something quite bold about the chorus which I admire, although as anyone who has followed the band for any length of time already knows, they are a band not afraid to take risks, for better or worse, and certainly not 30 something years in to their career.
‘Upper Hand‘ has the most interesting, cinematic and epic intro to a Pearl Jam song on any album. No contest. No question. Elements of Pink Floyd, U2 and The Who are woven delicately into a rich ambient tapestry, creating one of the album’s stand-out moments. Mike McCready plays his Hendrix-like ‘Black/Alive/Ledbetter’ rhythm parts not heard since the ‘Ten’ era, before slipping effortlessly into a few solos reminiscent of ‘Nothing As It Seems’. It was another song that I instantly connected with from the first time, which each subsequent listen revealing more things to love about it. The ‘Freebird’-esque outro is certain to be another high point when it is finally heard live.
Reading the various fan comments across social media, ‘Waiting For Stevie‘ seems to be a universal favourite. Sonically, it lives in a similar space to The Cult, The Cure, and Soundgarden. Matt Cameron’s inimitable drumming style really carries this song to its blistering conclusion, aided and abetted by some of Mike McCready’s best guitar work since ‘Breath’.
“Be mighty, be humble, be mighty humble”
A wonderful sentiment.
‘Running‘ is 2 minutes and 17 seconds of Pearl Jam punk. The similarity to ‘Mind Your Manners’ is clear, simply because it is late-era Pearl Jam with Matt Cameron, but I hear it more as the spiritual successor to ‘The Whipping’. I think it has a bit more snarl and energy than ‘Manners’ (a song I love, by the way) which I give credit to Andrew Watt for getting a great performance out of the band.
When I heard a 15 second clip of ‘Something Special‘ during the pre-release of ‘Dark Matter, I was in all honesty, a bit worried. However, hearing it within the context of the album it made much more sense. Is it overly sentimental? Maybe. Is it the poppiest song they have released? Probably. But, the more I think about it, the more I think Eddie, in particular, has earned the right to write a song like that. Thinking back to the Eddie who just about made it through the early days of the band’s success, the loss of Kurt and Layne which weighed terribly on him, the tragedy of Roskilde, the more recent loss of Chris, and probably another hundred things we will never know about, he is still here. With us. Making great fucking music at 59 years of age, and spreading joy and hope to people around the world.
He wrote a song about his daughters. You do not like it? That is fine. It is too poppy for you? No problem. Move on. Listen to ‘Blood’. It is just a song and one that I enjoy more with each listen. Will it become a favourite of mine? No, and that is ok.
The guitar riff for ‘Got To Give‘ is 96.7% the same as a song I wrote around 1999 called ‘The Hardest Thing’, so Pearl Jam will be hearing from my lawyers*
*They will not. (It is a really good song, though. Is mine better? Who can say. Me. I can. My song is better. Possibly.)
‘Setting Sun‘ is an astonishing song. It is their best album closer since ‘Immortality’. The entire mood, composition both musically and lyrically, and performance is as good as anything they have done before. Eddie’s vocals are sublime throughout and although there is a melancholy present, hope is also offered:
“They say in the end everything will be okay
If it’s not okay, well then, it ain’t the end”
The production for this track, in particular, is my favourite on the entire album. There are so many subtle layers that never intrude, but instead provide a gentle platform for a transcendental vocal performance. Full credit to Watt and a big middle finger to the naysayers. I see you.
I realise I have referenced a lot of previous Pearl Jam songs here, regardless, it harks back to the point I made at the start: ‘Dark Matter’ sounds like a band fully embracing their past instead of running away from it like they appear to have done so many times before. Before the album’s release, I said to friends I thought with Andrew Watt on board we would get not only a great sounding album, but the absolute best album the band were capable of delivering at this point in their career.
I have listened to this album almost constantly since release and feel things I have not felt from a Pearl Jam album in a long, long time. The last album of theirs that affected me in a similar way, was ‘Yield’. That is NOT to disparage anything that came after, because I have found something to be excited about, love and enjoy on each and every album they have released. The difference here is, I almost had to go looking for it. With ‘Dark Matter’ it found me.
And remember, this is just an opinion.
Kev.
9.5/10
‘Dark Matter‘ is available now from HERE
Dark Matter Tracklist
- Scared of Fear
- React, Respond
- Wreckage
- Dark Matter
- Won’t Tell
- Upper Hand
- Waiting for Stevie
- Running
- Something Special
- Got to Give
- Setting Sun
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