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. Pearl Jam would go on something of a hiatus after this albums release, with their 2006 return providing not nearly enough energy or musicianship to keep it running- Riot Act in that sense was really but one of a kind.Communal goodwill is the saving grace of Gigaton, their eleventh studio album and first in nearly seven years. Not containing a single hit or deep cut that doesn’t automatically provoke irrational amounts of hate, Riot Act is still a strong release filled with tightly written songs. Riot Act is to this day the most underappreciated of all of Pearl Jam’s albums. Finally, pretentious preconceptions are laid to rest and the band master the craft of both art rock depth and hard rock naivety. Cataclysmically fused together with rough precision, the likes of “Cropduster”, minimal and ethereal “I Am Mine” and the crushingly hooky “Green Disease” see Pearl Jam master an art they’ve gone so long failing at. Any moment that does give way to tenderness- “Love Boat Captain”, for example- is met instantly with juxtaposing lyrical themes, in this case commenting on the unfortunate events that facilitated their shying away from the live environment at Roskilde Festival in Denmark.Įverything surrounding Riot Act is so brilliantly concise that it is hard to believe the band had spent so long faltering like they did. On less straining counts, “Save You” and “Ghost” provide heavy doses of stoic musicianship still made specifically to avoid airwaves, armed wall-to-wall with skyscraper-sized riffs and a punishing dead eye. Notably, it contains the strides into Marxist territory criticizing Bush-administration of “Bu$hleaguer”, a song rarely performed live for its controversial stances a shame too, its prosaic croon and a threatening intent makes it one of the best songs in the Pearl Jam canon. Named after a form of martial law forbidding collusion as a conspiracy for terror, Riot Act is an aurally political piece signifying frustration from the band after extended bouts of disaffection. The odd exception to this rule however comes from what is potentially one of their most commercially unsuccessful records yet- the filthy grime and warts of Riot Act. Records such as the middling Yield and their forthcoming self-titled were hardly the most exciting of prospects, and given time to age they often wear off the hype very quickly. Pearl Jam themselves have never proclaimed comebacks as such but critical plaudit will often extend to rockist hyperbole when it comes to the release of a new Pearl Jam album. Review Summary: Control Myself, CHAPTER 7: “A Texas Leaguer…”
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