Dark Matter: Official Album Thread

[joostone]

Yeah, its an awesome interview. Cant wait for the album!

[oneway23]

beat me to it...thank you joostone...great interview

[Aunt_Claire_Foy]

https://www.spin.com/2024/03/spin-inter ... e-gossard/

The result is an album with something to love for every iteration of Pearl Jam fan, from kick-ass rockers such as the opening one-two punch of “Scared of Fear” and “React, Respond” to the open-hearted, acoustic-flecked ballad “Wreckage” and the swaggering grooves of “Waiting for Stevie,” a “Breath”/”State of Love and Trust”-style throwback Vedder and Watt started writing while waiting hours for Stevie Wonder to show up and record a guest turn on Earthling. There are songs about the challenges of parenting (“Something Special”), being visited by Laurel Canyon legends in a dream (“Won’t Tell”) and trying to make genuine human connections at a time when such a thing seems more difficult than ever (“Setting Sun”). You’ll hear a beguiling synth intro one moment and McCready playing some serious “Yellow Ledbetter”-ish blues guitar the next — a sonic kaleidoscope of Pearl Jam past, present and future over the course of 48 minutes.

‘Dark Matter’ showcases Matt Cameron and has some tasty riffs in the vein of AC/DC and Led Zeppelin. How did this song come to life?

Matt comes into the studio and tunes up his drums every morning. 90% of the time, he’ll start playing a beat just to warm up. When we heard him play what became ‘Dark Matter,’ we were like, oh my god, that’s fucking classic. We asked him to let us record it and we made a little loop. Jeff and I took that home and both of us were writing to it. We both came in the next day and played our parts. We needed a bridge, and then Mike had a bridge. We had that song in literally 24 hours, and I look at it as the lighthouse of what’s possible for the band in terms of changing our writing style and really honoring the rhythm first and foremost. I look at that as a Matt Cameron song, because I don’t know that I’ve heard a drum beat start a song like that. It feels unique. Ed’s lyric is very timely, even though I don’t know exactly what it means. It just feels good to hear somebody say that. I love that it’s really hard rock but it doesn’t feel gratuitous or fake. It feels real to me. I wrote the little [hums the descending riff in the song’s pre-chorus], and everybody’s got something in that song that’s special.

‘Upper Hand’ starts off somewhat resigned, a la ‘All Those Yesterdays or ‘Parachutes,’ but has quite a build at the end.

I had those two parts as a starting point, but that song definitely evolved too. Ed helped with the verses and they really changed a lot. The verses remind me of Bob Dylan or something like that, where it’s not so much about the melody but the delivery. I love how Ed can be so many different people and you can hear his influences, and yet it’s still him. He takes and picks from so many different places.

Even though it didn’t start with the other band members in the room, ‘Waiting for Stevie’ sounds more like early or Singles-era Pearl Jam than just about anything I’ve heard from the band in a long time.

Yes, and I think Andrew had more to do with that song than any song on the record because in a sense, it’s almost a tribute to Soundgarden. It has a riff that gives Matt Cameron the opportunity to be as great as we know him to be. I think that drum fill coming out of the bridge is probably one of the greatest drum fills of all time. There’s just no way you can’t make the Mötley Crüe sign. I love that song. It’s the way the bass line and the guitar line play against each other melodically. To me, it feels kind of like a hit, you know what I mean? I’ll be curious if it where it ends up sitting in the pantheon of favorites among Pearl Jam fans.

"Gigaton was made over a long period of time. It was done from individual demos, using the parts that were raw and rough from them that we loved, but also adding onto them. It was a cool process, but this was the anti-that. This was, you barely bring in a riff, but in 30 minutes, here’s two or three chords you might not have even known how to play but they sound cool in the bridge. We encouraged Matt Cameron to be more and more aggressive. Let’s make these feel like they’re being enacted right in the moment. That was what was exciting about the process with Andrew.

At first, we were there for probably 10 days. We knocked those first two songs out and I think we recorded the basics for ‘Waiting for Stevie’ on day two or three. We recorded three or four more quickly like that. As we got home and listened, some of those started to fall back into being not as urgent and more cerebral … maybe more arranged. They didn’t have the excitement we got from that first batch, where it was like everybody jumping off the cliff together. We got what we felt like was maybe half a record done or close to it, and then we hung. Lots of things went on. Ed went on tour. I don’t know whether Andrew finished with Ozzy first and then made the Rolling Stones record, but he’s constantly working. There was a scheduling thing where we just didn’t get back together again right away. The next round was a year later and we said, okay, we’re gonna finish the record. We’ve got two weeks at Shangri-La."

This was really interesting.

The fact that they are this self-aware of their choices and the outcomes associated with those choices is a relief. I'd much rather hear Stone compare records like this through the lens he did (ugency vs. contemplative)... it sounds like they got out of their own way. It sounds like they had fun. If that's what Watt brings to the table, and if that's *all* he brings to the table, then it's a good match.

That said, "Something Special"... <groan>

[Bammer]

I’ve kinda forgotten we have an album coming here during this unnecessarily long lull after the first single release.

[oneway23]

"while also coloring the follow-up to 2020’s Gigaton with a modern production touch rarely heard on their prior albums. "

Trag...you're up, buddy!

Sorry, folks

[Kevin Davis]

Thanks joostone, that was a really enjoyable read.

[tragabigzanda]

pearl jam sucks now

[Val]

Sounds promising

[Strat]

okay so excited

[oneway23]

"while also coloring the follow-up to 2020’s Gigaton with a modern production touch rarely heard on their prior albums. "

Trag...you're up, buddy!

Sorry, folks

So incredibly frustrating to read all that behind the scenes stuff only to have Wotman and Ghanea take a dump all over it

Very concise...good..Don't gas yourself out before the record.

Just so you can starting mentally preparing, I'm letting you know right now, exactly one month out, that I'm fully expecting a stip-style book report from you, on my desk, no later than precisely two weeks post-release, covering all aspects of production.

Other than that...I love this interview so much...Always love hearing from Stone, love hearing his enthusiasm for the process, for the songs, for the record, for the future...All of it, just fucking ace. (except for the "modern production touches" blemish, of course).

Oh, and of course Stone wrote the descending pre-chorus bit in DM...best part, imo. The tremolo effect is his, as well.

[McParadigm]

Ed’s lyric is very timely, even though I don’t know exactly what it means. It just feels good to hear somebody say that.

That’s a good summation of it.

[Strat]

IM a bit concerned that mr wottman may have tried too hard to produce pearl jam to sound too much like pearl jam "Hey, remember that haunting intro on ten, lets do something like that!"

"Hey, remember when you sounded like this on Singles? Lets go for that!"

"Hey remember those quirky little segues, lets try that too!"

Or, whatever. Hope it feels authentic! But i do love hearing about how they wrote/played this album. Still getting used to the fact that two outside people helped write songs but i suppose 34 years into their career you gotta shake things up a tad.

Also, very curious about this new stage production he hinted at.

[Farmer John]

I'm kind of excited for Waiting for Stevie, even though it sounds like Andrew Watt may have written the main riff.

[oneway23]

"Hey remember those quirky little segues, lets try that too!"

Personally can't wait for those, just so fans can re-sequence the track list in thirty years to make it a "better" album.

[Farmer John]

"Hey remember those quirky little segues, lets try that too!"

Personally can't wait for those, just so fans can re-sequence the track list in thirty years to make it a "better" album.

Already working on my "Dark Matter: Trim the Fat Edition"

[oneway23]

I'm kind of excited for Waiting for Stevie, even though it sounds like Andrew Watt may have written the main riff.

The part that really tickles my pickle is the Cameron drum-fill bit..."One of the greatest of all-time" is a prettay, prettay, prettay high bar comment from Stone.

Already working on my "Dark Matter: Trim the Fat Edition"

Get moving..in thirty years time, the fellas may not be middle-aged anymore.

[Mike]

Lots of cowriting by non Pearl Jam members going on. Some users here will loooovve that hehe

[Strat]

Yea, at this point im most curious about Waiting for Stevie. That one seems to get talked about quite a bit.

Cohen comparing it somewhat to State of Love and Trust was a surprise. Waiting for stevie, the title alone, i cant help but think of a total Ed song/folksy number that would easily fit on Earthling.

[Vindicator]

Really excited for the album after that interview. It seems like the album has something from every era and style of Pearl Jam.

The opening song, I'm expecting something like Life Wasted (very hyped that it's a Stone riff, finally) I think the synth tease we heard will start this song, similar to Who Ever Said intro

React / Respond is gonna be another rocker, which has been described as aggressive so I'm hoping for something like Save You (apparently Jeff wrote good amounts of this one, so should be good)

Wreckage is gonna be one of the obligatory ballads. Probably gonna be a grower (an Ed song) hope for the best

Dark Matter is great, channels elements of You Are, DOTC with the feel of Ten or Vs, good stuff

Won't Tell is gonna be a Jeff type slower song, which are always great, hoping for something like Nothing As It Seems.

Upper Hand is gonna channel some Binaural, with some sounds of Fatal / Light Years (based on metal door leak)

Waiting for Stevie is being very hyped up, and for good reason. It was the stand out for me from the metal door leak, with that In Hiding style riff and soaring melodic vocals. This one is gonna be great and the center piece of the album

Running is gonna be the fast punky rocker, but since it's a Jeff tune, hopefully it's not spritzy. I think it's gonna be aggressive and heavy, I'm expecting something like Whipping or Breakerfall.

Something Special we know is the schmaltzy swing song about parenting. I kinda like the Ed vocals from the clips, but yeah, this is the least thing I'm looking forward to. Could be surprisingly decent if it's catchy enough. Seems like we've only heard the verses, so there may be a good chorus there and some good solos.

Got To Give I'm excited from the metal door leak. Sounds soaring and uplifting like something from Yield. Ed song, so maybe something like Swallowed Whole, but better since they worked as a band this time

Setting Sun is also being hyped as an epic closer. I'm hoping for something hypnotic like Pendulum / Parting Ways, before exploding into something like the ending of Retrograde. Should be great.

Anyway, I'm hyped

[stip]

That was one of the best band member interviews I can recall just in terms of them actually talking about their music