Day: May 7, 2024

We are nearly three weeks out from the release of Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter. As an OG PJ head, I should probably do a review. Especially since I’ve been listening to it daily over that entire stretch.[1]

That last sentence could be the entire review. For the first time since 2006’s self-titled album, a Pearl Jam disk has stuck with me for more than just the few days after its release. As much as the band has meant to me over the past 30+ years, I haven’t had much patience for their post–2006 albums. They each featured one or two songs I liked but little about the entire works made me want to play them on repeat.

That is very different with Dark Matter.

In his review, Steven Hyden made a great point. For a band that is, arguably, the best live group in the business, their recent albums have lacked the spark and sense of fun and community that characterizes their concerts. It wasn’t just that the songs weren’t as good as the ones from their Nineties heyday. It also seemed like the band was trying too hard to force too many ideas into each one, and that weight kept the albums from being very engaging.

Producer Andrew Watt fixed that, though. He produced Eddie Vedder’s 2022 solo album, a collection of songs that was shockingly good and enjoyable. While recording, Vedder realized he had tapped into something special, and invited his PJ bandmates into the studio to catch the vibe. When it came time to record their next album, they agreed to bring Watt in for assistance.

Watt kept them on a tight schedule. He wanted to capture that spirit of the live shows. Instead of taking months or even years to make the album, as has been the case over the past decade, he and the band cranked out Dark Matter in just three weeks.

Even if the songs weren’t good, you hear that kinetic force throughout the album, setting it apart from their last three disks.

That’s the thing, though. There are a lot of really good songs on Dark Matter.

I’ve already shared my love for “Wreckage” and “Waiting For Stevie” in recent Friday Playlists. Those are two of the best songs they’ve ever done, let alone in the back half of their career.

Lead single “Dark Matter” was the rare “old band trying to prove they can still rock” track that actually worked.

Opener “Scared of Fear,” while ostensibly about someone who is drifting away because of addiction or maybe just indifference, features a chorus that is a perfect statement for a band full of guys who are nearing 60 but once defined a generation:

We used to laugh, we used to sing
We used to dance, we had our own theme

We used to laugh, we used to sing
We used to dance, we used to believe

The chorus is anchored by a classic Jeff Ament pop-punk bass riff, with Stone Gossard roaring in to match him.

Matt Cameron’s drumming sounds better than it’s ever sounded.[2] Mike McCready’s solos remind you of all the great ones from the hits, without being derivative.

I’ve watched a lot of Curb Your Enthusiasm over the past few months, and I can’t help but channel Leon Black when describing the music on Dark Matter: these cats are locked the fuck in.

Eddie Vedder sounds great, too. The best he’s sounded in years. His songs are a little more universal than they used to be, which means a critical reading of his lyrics shows they may not match his best from the first few albums. But they work. And his voice and music more than make up for any lyrical flaws.

“Got To Give” and “Won’t Tell” are poppy tracks refined enough they would likely be big radio hits if rock music still had a home on radio.

The album ends with “Setting Sun,” a track that begins as a gentle, fireside ballad and grows into a soaring affirmation of life and loyalty to each other.

I love thinking about last tracks from the perspective of “If this was the band’s last album, how would this hold up?” Thinking, mostly, of the close of Abbey Road with its melody that leads up to “The End.” That was quite a way to go out.

I don’t think Pearl Jam is going anywhere any time soon. But were this to be their final album, “Setting Sun” would be a fitting way to say goodbye, especially with Eddie repeating “Let us not fade…” as the song ends.

From start-to-finish the band sounds as energized and connected as they have in years. Or, more properly, as energized and connected in the studio as they have for years. Watt got them to relax and stop worrying about Making Statements with their songs and, instead, just discover some good grooves and melodies and turn those into great songs.

Dark Matter won’t have the cultural impact of Pearl Jam’s first three albums, nor will it sell as many copies. But it is their most accessible and satisfying album of the 2000s. It is an album made to satisfy both the long time fans who followed them through the many twists and turns of their career and also those who stopped paying attention around Vitalogy and have longed for good songs that rock and hit you in the heart since 1994.[3]