This week American rock band Pearl Jam have struck up a storm with their 12th studio album, while English singer Lucy Rose gets personal on her latest release.
– Pearl Jam – Dark Matter
Ahead of the release of Pearl Jam’s 12th studio album, lead singer Eddie Vedder declared: “I think this is our best work.” Perhaps a bold statement from the frontman of the veteran Seattle group, but Dark Matter proves to be the band’s finest offering in almost two decades.
A vibrant start sees the band rattle through the power chords on Scared Of Fear before blazing into React, Respond – which sees the rhythm section of drummer Matt Cameron and bassist Jeff Ament soar.
For a band famed for their live performances, the elegant Wreckage seems destined to be a concert favourite with its singalong-ready anthemic outro. Fans of guitar solos will gravitate towards title track Dark Matter and Waiting For Stevie, both of which let lead guitarist Mike McCready loose on the fretboard, with rhythm guitarist Stone Gossard’s riffs laying a solid platform.
More mellow moments on the record include the brooding Upper Hand and the sentimental Something Special, during which Vedder pays tribute to his two daughters.
Atmospheric closer Setting Sun sees Vedder part with the final line “Let us not fade” – and on this showing, there’s little chance of the band fading away.
Score: 9/10
(Review by Alexander Hoggard)
– Lucy Rose – This Ain’t The Way You Go Out
Lucy Rose is back with her fifth studio album, a beautifully honest tribute to her son and the challenges that followed his birth.
This album is quintessential Rose. Most of the songs are stripped back to her vocals and the piano. It’s refreshingly easy to listen to.
When the singer-songwriter sticks to her folksy background, the music is perfect. It’s at once ethereal, rich, wistful and bold, like a modern-day Joni Mitchell CD.
Whatever You Want, a love letter to her son Otis, is a standout track. In typical Rose fashion, she masterfully combines melancholic melodies with upbeat lyrics. The result is tender and joyful.
Unfortunately, some songs stray from the template. It’s brave of Rose to attempt some more jazzy, heavily arranged music but these tracks, while not bad, do not meet the high standard set by the others.
Only one song is skippable though and that is Interlude II. The track features baby sounds from Otis. The toddler shows promise, but his vocals may need a few more years to mature before they match his mother’s talent.
Score: 8/10
(Review by Yasmin Vince)
– Lauri Porra – Matter And Time
An atheist’s answer to the religious masses of the great classical composers, Lauri Porra’s epic premiered in 2018 with the Vantaa orchestra, and tracks range from the Big Bang through life on Earth, on beyond the death of our sun to the unknown emptiness that follows.
A bold, beautiful and bonkers suite, it uses the words of astronomer Esko Valtaoja, narrated by Stephen Fry – here an intergalactic Sir David Attenborough, illuminating the journey of the carbon atom which serves as our central protagonist.
Porra, descended from composer Sibelius, has written a beautiful orchestral score, with his other musical life as the bassist in heavy metal band Stratovarius making its presence felt in frequent rock guitar solos. His wife, renowned composer Dalia Stasevska, presides over the disparate elements which coalesce in prog-rock, War Of The Worlds territory.
Evolution is the high point of a first half, marking staging posts in the emergence of life, before The End arrives jarringly early in track six of 10.
After Fall Of Man comes an increasingly out-there sequence of the gorgeous Requiem Mundi; Epilogue – all Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and gene-edited post-human beings; and Future, the most euphoric five and a half minutes of chanted binary code you will ever hear – which is unlikely to be a high bar, but is a surprisingly effective finale.
Score: 8/10
(Review by Tom White)
– Banners – All Back To Mine
Liverpool-born indie-pop artist Banners, aka Michael Nelson, returns with his second studio album, All Back To Mine.
Every song on the record follows a similar format. They begin by introducing the main hook on either the guitar or piano before everything is stripped down to the basics as Nelson’s voice takes over. It all ends with a crescendo before the final chorus.
Listening to the album is like listening to the soundtrack for a mid-2010s TV drama. The tracklist is catchy but slightly forgettable.
Producers could use the album for any scene, from emotional sprints through the rain to wild scenes from a prom. It makes sense since Nelson’s music has been used in eight such shows, including Grey’s Anatomy and Teen Wolf, both of which featured rainy runs and dramatic dances.
The stand-out song is In Your Universe. The format is the same as the other songs, but the lyrics and arrangement are more thoughtfully put together. Nelson’s church choir background shines through in the multi-vocal layering in the crescendo that still feels fresh.
It’s proof that tried-and-true methods can work for the singer, as long as it doesn’t become a paint-by-numbers process.
Score: 6/10
(Review by Yasmin Vince)
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