![]() ![]() To unify this sprawling material, Vedder offers wordy, zoomed-out lyrics that directly address Trump, the climate crisis, and a growing sense of apocalyptic unease. For the first time in a while, the winning moments are the slower cuts: songs like “Retrograde” and “Seven O’Clock” that evolve patiently into their atmosphere, as opposed to pro-forma ragers like “Never Destination” that never quite find their groove. Co-produced by the band and Josh Evans, it’s filled with all the markers of cerebral, studio-born rock music: drum loops and programmed synths, swirling keys and fretless bass, wide dynamics and spacey textures. After records like 2009’s Backspacer and 2013’s Lightning Bolt combatted their dearth of ideas with low-stakes thrashiness-a throwback to the rowdy garage band that they never actually were- Gigaton attempts to reinstate their ambition. It’s hard to imagine this process leading toward a unified statement from any band, let alone one that’s already been having trouble finding inspiration. In context, it’s more of an outlier: a reminder of their underdog mentality, that they have some fight left in them.įrom the sounds of it, Pearl Jam pieced Gigaton together from various sessions over several years, with Vedder adding vocals to the choice bits after the fact. From the curveball disco-rock of first single “Dance of the Clairvoyants”-a portal into an alternate universe where David Byrne produced the Who to soundtrack an ’80s action film-the band immediately forecasted an attempt to revitalize its sound. ![]() The ballads stretch out slowly, and the uptempo numbers are derailed by meandering build-ups, like stopping for a chat while running in place mid-jog. You feel the weight of both durations throughout. At 57 minutes, it’s their longest album, as well as the one that took the longest to complete. It could be the band’s theme song, it certainly seems to have been their mantra for three decades.Communal goodwill is the saving grace of Gigaton, their eleventh studio album and first in nearly seven years. “Corduroy” remains their most powerful anthem it’s about living life on your own terms and not being for sale. We’re glad that Stone, Mike, Jeff, Matt, and Eddie figured it out: they never broke up, and they’re still headlining stadiums and arenas today. They put this new character on a soap opera, so there was a guy, more handsome than I, parading around on ‘General Hospital.’ And the funny thing is, that guy was Ricky Martin.” Over the years, many of Pearl Jam’s peers couldn’t cope with the spotlight and imploded (or worse.) Others fell out of favor and got day jobs. The ultimate one as far as being co-opted was that there was a guy on TV, predictably patterned, I guess, after the way I was looking those days, with long hair and an Army T-shirt. I think I got mine for 12 bucks, and it was being sold for like $650. In an interview with The Onion’s AV Club, he said, “That song was based on a remake of the brown corduroy jacket that I wore. ![]() Another song that saw Eddie Vedder struggling with fame. ![]()
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