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Review: Pearl Jam come roaring back with superb new album

Pearl Jam, 'œGigaton'ť (Monkeywrench/Republic Records)

Trust Pearl Jam to still surprise us in 2020. The Seattle rock gods have made an album we didn't know we needed.

'œGigaton'ť is a fascinating and ambitious 12-track collection with a cleaner, crisper sound that is studded with interesting textures, topped by Eddie Vedder's still-indignant voice.

Many songs switch gears and morph into something else before they're done, as if the group was restless to try something else. Bandmates have also switched instruments on this, their 11th studio album and their first in seven years.

'œGigaton'ť marks the band's first co-production with Josh Evans, who previously worked with Soundgarden and Chris Cornell. He's helped pull out more experimentation, certainly from the messy last studio offering, 'œLightning Bolt.'ť

The first single, 'œDance of the Clairvoyants,'ť is easily one of the most exciting Pearl Jam songs in decades, with guitarist Stone Gossard playing chunky bass lines, Mike McCready offering splintering, chopping guitar riffs and Vedder's voice at its most mercurial, bursting out of the song's outline.

'œAlright'ť is a nifty, spacey, Peter Gabriel-ish tune and 'œComes Then Goes'ť is an acoustic ballad for a lost friend. Gossard sings backup vocals on his terrifically unsettling lullaby 'œBuckle Up'ť and drummer Matt Cameron shines on the excellent 'œTake the Long Way,'ť attacking his kit like a thrash act.

Environmental fears are a frequent motif, with Vedder often singing about oceans rising and an uneasy Earth. 'œYou can't hide the lies/In the rings of a tree,'ť he sings on 'œAlright.'ť The album's cover captures a Norwegian ice cap gushing and the title 'œGigaton'ť is often used to measure human carbon dioxide emissions.

The band's distaste for current politics is also easily apparent: Vedder sings in one song that the 'œgovernment thrives on discontent'ť and on 'œNever Destination'ť he mentions 'œcollusion hiding in plain sight.'ť

Donald Trump is directly mentioned once, in 'œQuick Escape,'ť a rocking ditty about looking for a place, anyplace - Morocco, Zanzibar, Mars even - that the president hasn't destroyed yet. He later calls the sitting president an expletive on another track.

But despite the gloom, there's great hope on 'œGigaton,'ť too, with Vedder cheerleading the resistance. 'œSwim sideways from this undertow and do not be deterred,'ť he counsels on 'œSeven O'Clock'ť and adds, 'œThis is no time for depression.'ť And on the straightforward rocker 'œSuperblood Wolfmoon,'ť he says: 'œDon't allow for hopelessness/Focus on your focusness/I've been hoping that our hope dies last.'ť

The album ends with the mournful 'œRiver Cross,'ť with the side that is right in a chokehold and outnumbered. Yet they will win: 'œShare the light/Won't hold us down,'ť Vedder sings, virtually sobbing, like a prayer. As for us, we can thank God they're back.

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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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