Gigaton - Listening Party. Part 4.
by Henrik Tuxen
Pearl Jam is many things, but first and foremost it’s historically a guitar-based hard rock band. Here’s a little sneak preview as of the rocking side of Gigaton.
@Danny Clinch
Overall there’s 12 songs on Gigaton. Roughly categorized I’ll say there’s six ballads/alternative slow songs which don't qualify for this category (Buckle up, Comes then goes, Retrograde, River Cross, and Seven O’clock). Then there’s two, let’s say ‘alternative’ rockers (Take the long way, Dance of the Clairvoyants) and then four pretty straight and direct rock song (Who ever said, Super blood Wolfmoon, Quick Escape and Never Destination)
Spoonman on Speed
So, it’s certainly not as straight rocking as early day albums like Ten or Vs., but also less indie alternative than Riot Act and Binaural. Looking first at the ‘alternative’ ones I really think that Dance of the Clairvoyants is a strong proof of the bands ability to develop and build, and still maintain mass appeal. I won’t add more to this, since all fans already know this one well. Matt Cameron has contributed with his (in my book) strongest contribution to the PJ catalogue as a songwriter with The Long Way. ‘Spoonman on Speed’ as Pernille Ravn from PJ Nordic described it. And there’s certainly an ode here to the weird time signatures, which was one of the main trademarks from Cameron’s original band, now sadly missing their lead singer. The chorus opens up in a great singalong way, without feeling too distant from the way more twisted verse. Mike is flashing one of few solos on the album, followed by a super cool, psychedelic b-part. This one is weird, but not too weird, it’s cool.
Bass going wild
As with ‘Clairvoyaints’ I won’t write much about Superblood Wolfmoon, for the same reasons; you know it already. As I wrote elsewhere, I was initially disappointed, but it’s been growing, and when live shows are a reality once again, I’ll be looking forward to rock out and sing along to this one.
Opening song Who ever said is excellent. A straight rocker with some classic, twisted PJ alternative heavyocity, and although the chorus is short and simple, it has some of the melodic twist, which is so characteristic for this band. There’s a young freshness to the song, and as on many of Gigaton tracks, you hear a band who really likes and knows how to jam and fool around. The songs go down in tempo as typical for a live song before the end but gets back on track. But then the band goes down again one more time, and this time really builds up efficiently to a great ending climax. How weird is this for an opening song of a 2020 album!! You really sense the strength of the chorus at the end, since it opens on a different chord than the build up, which makes a great shift. Gigaton’s equivalent to Yield opener Brain of J.
Quick escape (music, Ament, lyrics Vedder) is a great step in a new rocking direction for the band. If they can pull up more songs like this, and other artists can follow and be inspired, there could be a great future for guitar-based rock’n’roll in the 2020s. It’s heavy, intense, bass-driven, with a twisted guitar riff , with an offbeat feel, which adds tension and suspense (as far as effect, it shares some similarity to the guitar riff on ‘Clairvoyants’). The bass goes totally wild in the instrumental part. There is a heavy distortion effect on the vocal. The tone, as well as the actual content of Eddie’s lyrics, are alarming and capturing (see more in blog on Eddie/Gigaton)
Last real rocker is Never Destination, which is probably the straightest song on the album. It’s one of the fast, simple songs, which goes so well with Eddie’s singing, where the many words makes him almost on the verge of rap. In this type of song Eddie is singing within a relative narrow range, which works super well. There’s some cool and vital playing happening here, and the way the bass moves in the instrumental part really captures the bands loose, spontaneous dynamics, which is so well-known from their live shows.
Still pushing the boundaries
So, what’s to say about the overall Gigaton rock-barometer. Well, for what is primarily known as a hard rock band, 50 % of the songs don't fit into this category. So if you’ve been asleep for a quarter of a century coming directly from Vs. You'll get a shock, there’s no new Even Flow or Rearview Mirror on the album. But for all songs listed here, there’s no doubt that Pearl Jam is still a rock band, and a truly amazing one. Songs such as The long way, Who ever said, Dance of The Clairvoyants and especially Quick escape, shows that the band is still inspired by and masters this style. But more than that they’re innovative and able to push the boundaries of guitar rockers as a vital means of expression in words, sound and expression in 2020. This is a very good sign.