Pearl Jam: make way for a good rock album

Pearl Jam began their career 33 years ago with a song, Alive, where a young Eddie Vedder growled his anguish after his mother revealed to him that the man he thought was his father was actually his stepfather. “Oh, I’m still alive,” Vedder howled to stay afloat in 1991, at 26 years old. Next year the vocalist will turn 60 and has written for his daughters Something Special, included in the final part of the album at hand. It is the most melodic song on a good rock album, a beautiful song where Daddy Vedder whispers to his children (ages 20 and 16): “If you could see what I see, you should know that I am so proud.”

Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam have endured an extraordinarily virulent storm, the one that has hit rock in recent times. First they avoided the curse of that generation grunge that populated the path with young corpses (Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley, Scott Weiland, Chris Cornell, Mark Lanegan), then endured the explosion of commercial pop stars in the 2000s (Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé) and now They stand firm in the face of the avalanche of urban music. Pearl Jam has kept the rock flag upright and with estimable levels of popularity. Good for them.

Dark Matter, His twelfth work is a rock album, with its furious and sweaty songs, some intimate moments of existential clarity and magical mid-tempos. A classic formula that we had almost forgotten. In this sense it is reminiscent of the excellent latest work of the Rolling Stones, Hackney Diamonds. Y here we find an important link: Andrew Watt. This New Yorker who was born (curious) the same year Pearl Jam was formed, 33 years ago, made a name for himself by producing commercial pop stars such as Justin Bieber, Dua Lipa and Miley Cyrus; Lately he has been in charge of revamping the sound of rock veterans like Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop, the Rolling Stones and now Pearl Jam. Watt’s main quality, in addition to his mastery of instruments (good guitarist), is that he is a rock fan who knows all the details of his idols’ music. And that shows, because he gets the groups to return to their essence, to which he made them great, but with a current sound. That is the value of Dark Matter.

Those from Seattle show their teeth from the beginning, with two songs that raise fire in their wake, Scared Of Fear y React, Respond. In the latter, Vedder asks: “Are we at war with each other? Are you at war with yourself? “We could be fighting together instead of fighting against ourselves.” Upper Hand It is one of the jewels of the album, a song that begins with a spectral organ introduction and then develops those dramatic routes that classic Pearl Jam so frequented. Vedder’s voice on this song recovers the existential affliction he suffered at 20. The work of Mike McCready stands out throughout the album, concentrating his best guitar solos at the end of the songs to close them with a distorted chord.

Unlike in his previous job, Gigaton (2020), where musically they fell into laziness, here you hear five guys focused on provoking a sound that they refuse to explain too much, because it doesn’t need it. Their hard pieces are like flint and in the mid-tempo they create adherent melodies without falling into rhetoric. To this category belong Wreckage, Wont’ Tell o Something Special. By getting picky, maybe we would get something wrong, like the last song is left over, Setting Sun, a parsimonious piece that seems like a leftover from some of Vedder’s solo albums. As it is the closing, there is always the possibility of stopping at song 10 and completing 40 minutes of a powerful rock album, which in the musical context we are in works as a lifeboat.

Pearl Jam presents ‘Dark Matter’ in two concerts in Barcelona (July 6 and 8) and one in Madrid (Mad Cool festival, July 11).