Bands with longevity who are capable of putting out a full, solid album of new material are rare. Dinosaur Jr. is such a band.
After reuniting in 2005, the band is back yet again, with Kurt Vile behind the boards and J. Mascis’ unmistakable voice on the mic. Mascis always sounds like an old man going through puberty. His voice cracks and breaks at the right time, but he’s got sufficient deep, grungy gravitas to be carried by his own aggressive guitar work and, of course, Murph and Barlow’s extraordinary drums-and-bass. There are few power trios with more powerful rhythm section.
Surprisingly, one of the lead videos is by Barlow, who takes lead on Garden, taking the album into a quieter (but still loud) psychedelic direction, but then they pick back up with Hide Another Round–a timeless DJr song that could have been written during the band’s first iteration in the ’90s. It’s an obvious single.
And the actual lead single, Take it Back is easily the catchiest song in the collection.
On the whole, a very, very good album. Song by song, there are some extraordinary moments.
Highly recommended.
