![]() Murph, the drummer, also handed out earplugs telling people “it’s going to get loud.” You know it’s going to get loud when the drummer says so. How loud? The roadie was handing out earplugs to people in the front row before the band took the stage. So I walked into Sunday’s Dino J show at the same venue with a hankering to hear songs from Farm, the band’s excellent new album, while wondering whether it’s possible for J, Lou and Murph to get any louder.Īfter the band was through with its 75-minute set I definitely got a healthy dose of Farm material however, I really couldn’t tell you if Sunday was any louder than it was four years ago. It was one of the loudest concerts I’ve attended. in concert was during their initial 2005 reunion tour at the Showbox. Sign up for the 10 to Hear newsletter here.The last time I saw Dinosaur Jr. (Pitchfork earns a commission from purchases made through affiliate links on our site.)Ĭatch up every Saturday with 10 of our best-reviewed albums of the week. “Where do we go when faced with such dramatic confusion? Back to basics, back home, back to the garden.” It’s not just a song title it’s also Dinosaur Jr.’s animating principle. “I was looking for a resolution,” Barlow explained. The latter is a survival anthem, and takes its title from a sign Barlow spotted on a shed while driving through Massachusetts: Back to the Garden. As usual, they’re wordier and more cerebral than Mascis’ contributions: a slightly mawkish song of devotion called “You Wonder,” a compelling English-folk pastiche called “Garden.” Otherwise, Sweep It Into Space is classic Dinosaur Jr., straight down to the division of labor: As on each of the band’s post-1997 albums, Barlow is allotted exactly two songs, a tradition so consistent you wonder if it’s baked into a contract. The song is just a few trumpet overdubs away from ska, swapping out the usual Marshall stacks for a digital Mellotron and a Blue Beat-inspired rhythm, with a disjointed but still catchy chorus. The acoustic-electric mix of “And Me” is a nice change from the band’s usually implacable roar, but the jaunty “Take It Back” is the one most likely to raise eyebrows among longtime fans. ![]() The band departs from familiar territory when Vile asserts his presence behind the boards, like on the rolling country rock of “I Ran Away,” which features Vile’s 12-string accompaniment. His fiery solos remain piercing as ever, whether he’s wailing over the buzzsaw chords of “I Met the Stones'' and “Hide Another Round” or injecting pyrotechnics into the brooding “To Be Waiting.” Mascis’ skill seems to have only grown during quarantine, which he spent playing Hindu peace chants in solidarity with healthcare workers and jamming along with the Schitt’s Creek theme song. The song’s main refrain, “I ain’t good alone” (easily misheard as “I ain’t gettin’ old”), evokes the simple yearning for musical companionship that has defined this band’s reunion. Sweep It revs up like a used car with “I Ain’t,” a major-chord stomper in which Mascis starts ripping melodic solo licks even before the first chorus hits. It’s the breeziest and most melodically generous of the trio’s reunion efforts, even flirting with power-pop on the compulsively hummable “And Me.” The album brightens the punkish snarl of 2016’s Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not but rarely strays far from Dinosaur Jr.’s familiar guitar-forward racket, another testament to this band’s reliability well into their fourth decade. Partially recorded in fall 2019 with co-producer Kurt Vile, then completed by Mascis during last year’s quarantine, Sweep It Into Space bears little evidence of its protracted creation. That sense of effortless-if hard-won-chemistry permeates the new album.
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