Pearl Jam Unleashes ‘Dark Matter,’ Sets New Album
Pearl Jam is back, and they’ve returned to heavy.
After throwing a listening party last month for a new album that frontman Eddie Vedder described as their “best work,” fans everywhere can now test that theory.
The Rock Hall-inducted Seattle legends unleash “Dark Matter,” a muscular romp of power chords, in-your-face bass, drum fills and a late solo that could cut a can in half.
“Dark Matter” leads the way for the album of the same name, due out April 19.
That twelfth studio LP is the followup to 2020’s Gigaton, which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 chart and was described by some devotees as their most experimental album yet.
Based on the three-and-a-half minutes of “Dark Matter,” this next phase will rock. Stream it below.
One of the great bands to emerge from the grunge era, Pearl Jam has landed 12 top 10s on the Billboard 200, including five No. 1s. Vedder and Co. were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2017, joining Journey, Electric Light Orchestra, Yes, Tupac Shakur, Joan Baez and Nile Rodgers.
Vedder, lead guitarist Mike McCready, and bass player Jeff Ament premiered the forthcoming album at a listening party in West Hollywood last month, attended by a few hundred family, friends, industry professionals and reporters, the Associated Press reported.
“You all get together as a group as we’ve been doing for 30-plus years and you say, ‘Let’s try it again,’” Vedder reportedly told guests from the stage as he introduced the record. “No hyperbole, I think this is our best work.”
Producer Andrew Watt reportedly recorded the LP at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La studio in Malibu, California.
“We made this record like a year ago,” Ament told onlookers at the listening party. “We’ve been sitting on it.”
Pearl Jam will get a chance to road test their new tunes with a run of trans-Atlantic dates this summer, including a headline spot at BottleRock Festival in Napa Valley, CA, on May 25, and festival spots on the Iberian Peninsula in July.
Lars Brandle
Billboard
