Sweep It Into Space

Album review

Now reunited longer than they were together during their original days as a trio, Dinosaur Jr. have, musically, aged better than just about any other indie-rock bands of the Lollapalooza era. As Stereogum astutely put it, J Mascis, Lou Barlow and Murph sound like "old friends reconnecting, not estranged old co-workers chasing a paycheck." It helps, too, that they were never exactly "cool" young guys or baby-faced pretty boys; if anything, they've grown into the weird old men they were always destined to be, and the music has stayed strong. On their first album in five years, you can hear how much fun they're having on songs like the bottom-heavy "I Met the Stones"—all '80s hair metal guitar and chugging drums that erupts into a squall, with Mascis' voice cutting through, rusty and serrated and as comforting as a weighted blanket, assuming that's your thing. (And if you're listening to a Dinosaur Jr. record, surely it is?) While Kurt Cobain sang "Oh well, whatever, nevermind," Mascis—one of Cobain's idols—has always had the voice that seems to embody the sentiment. But in reality, despite the laconic whine (one of the most identifiable voices of the past half-century), Mascis' heart-on-the-sleeve lyrics care a lot. "I can't take it/ Can't quite place it/ I won't make it alone," he sings on "I Ain't," a proto-Dino Jr. song with its bittersweet guitar bite. "Trying to get back, trying to get free/ I try more for you, are you there for me?" he pleads on "To Be Waiting," while angelic backing vocals keen against a scorching Jazzmaster solo. Barlow's own tracks here, especially the nice and Kinks-ish "Garden," have a more tightly contained gentility next to Mascis' sprawling id. Meanwhile, "Hide Another Round" ignites like a Fourth of July sparkler (and could've been a 120 Minutes favorite back in the day), "N Say" echoes Hüsker Dü, and "And Me" has the same DNA as the Dino Jr. classic "Whatever's Cool With Me." The extremely appealing "I Ran Away," meanwhile, bounces and bobs like Generation X's "Running With the Boss Sound," but with Kurt Vile playing 12-string lead at the top. (As much as it sounds like Gen X, Mascis has said he was trying to capture a little of Thin Lizzy's "dueling twin lead sound.") And after all these years, they're not afraid to get experimental. "Take It Back" is positively jaunty, with a piano-plunk melody that bounds into a funny little strut, bent blues riff and, for the final verse, a Steely Dan turn. Whatever's cool with them, indeed. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz