Pearl Jam’s New Album “Dark Matter” Is Here
If you feel like something nameless is out there, and fully energized, but you’re not certain what it could be, read this article to discover something more.
As of today, Pearl Jam’s new album entitled Dark Matter is now officially released. The album’s eleven songs are invisible to the naked eye, just perceptible in sound itself. “Dark matter” is discussed in the website spaceplace.nasa.gov: Dark matter is stuff in space that has gravity, but it is invisible and isn’t like anything else we know about. Dark matter makes up about 27% of the universe. Dark energy makes up roughly 68% of the universe.
As though taken from the bosom of under where we knew nothing before, Pearl Jam’s 12th studio album is formatted in any kind you can sonically take to bed, be it LP, CD, Deluxe CD plus Blu-Ray, digital singles, or digitized streaming services (at your leisure). As time moves forward, new formats may also emerge, somewhere, hidden in the dark, but let’s hope they have all been protected because, seriously, folks, streaming services seem to bend the very definition of materialized forms in the music industry. I’ll write more about that in some other post.
Right now, my mind is enveloped fully in Pearl Jam‘s newest work. In fact, before it was 60 minutes old, I was listening to the entire Dark Matter album again, for the third time, in less than a week. That’s because I attended the listening event at Pearl Jam‘s favorite independent record store, Easy Street Records, in Seattle, Washington. Then, just a day or two later, I attended Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter international theatrical experience. It was a one night only event, and I was able to catch the showing at Century 21 Theater, in my hometown of Portland, Oregon.
Dark Matter seems to hit every screw loose. There are a lot of throwbacks to earlier stuff here, folks. Which is exactly what I want to hear as a staunch Pearl Jam listener since the band’s first album, Ten, was released in August of 1991.
Unlike anything I knew before, Dark Matter seems to bring forth a female form, inside one’s mind, rather than the angered yet attuned attitudes of the rock band’s five heavenly men. With the exception of Ten, before Dark Matter, I would relegate almost a third of most PJ albums to “ for male species people, not for me this time”. Dark Matter bestows an even nod to both physical experiences—an intense balance sometimes existing within both love and sex—as though the entire band is dealing with thoughts of a cherished love.
There aren’t a lot of people in marketing for songs and music who are willing to share about the simpler facts of existence. These days, even a farm can become hyperbole rather than what will keep the town fed, and safe.
That said, I’m tired of too much squishing of the world’s emotion into a singularly fed music industry marketing package. Dark Matter is a new Pearl Jam approach to humanity’s open door. While it, at times, seems to develop into the hypnotic pop pulse I can’t take all that seriously, it then politely gushers my private thought into the Pearl Jam ensconced theater at the back of my forehead. Or, in this case, dark matter itself, eh?
Did Pearl Jam really just tell the world, again, that they will continue to carry all our sins upon their backs? I’ve become increasingly interested with the lyrics of the Dark Matter song list, getting more involved with its meaning every time through. Full confession—the lyrics of the new album’s eleven songs already made their way to the wall of my home office. I’m gonna think about them. And I’m gonna listen to the album again.
If you know anything about my touch as a writer you know that I am basically platonic at heart. Track #3 “Wreckage” as well as Track #5 “Won’t Tell” are my current favorites.
Dark Matter may go down in history as the most classic rock album in history. Wouldn’t matter to Eddie Vedder. His mind is preoccupied, but just one of the five Pearl Jam bandmates can unleash God’s wonder. That said, make Dark Matter your listening machine of choice, folks. I think you will find the Pearl Jam universe will not disappoint anyone who will dare to perceive it.
