J Mascis shares latest single ‘Set Me Down’
The Dinosaur Jr frontman J Mascis has shared ‘Set Me Down’, the brand new single from his forthcoming solo album What Do We Do Now. The album is scheduled to arrive on February 2nd via Sub Pop Records.
What Do We Do Now was recorded at Bisquiteen, Mascis’ studio in Western Massachusetts and marks the musician’s first record to feature full drum and electric leads. The album features several collaborations, including those with Ken Mauri, keyboardist of The B-52s and Matthew ‘Doc’ Dunn on steel guitar.
‘Set Me Down’ is the second song to preview What Do We Do Now, following the emphatic lead single, ‘Can’t Believe We’re Here’. The aforementioned track arrived last month, complete with a music video featuring some of those closest to Mascis as they go about their everyday lives.
“When I’m writing for the band, I’m always trying to think of doing things Lou and Murph would fit into,” Mascis said in a recent press statement, referring to Dinosaur Jr. “For myself, I’m thinking more about what I can do with just an acoustic guitar, even for the leads. Of course, this time, I added full drums and electric leads, although the rhythm parts are still all acoustic.”
He continued: “Usually, I try to do the solo stuff more simply so I can play it by myself, but I really wanted to add the drums. Once that started, everything else just fell into place. So it ended up sounding a lot more like a band record. I dunno why I did that exactly, but it’s just what happened.”
Discussing his collaboration with Mauri, Mascis added: “Ken is great, and he plays all the keys. I tried playing some keyboards on the first Fog album, but I’m really only comfortable playing the white notes, so it’s kind of limiting.
“Nowadays, I could just turn the pitch on a mini Mellotron to play different sounds, but black keys just seem hard. For whatever reason, I just like banging on the white ones. Seems like it’s harder to figure out how to stretch your fingers around the other ones.”
Listen to the gently uplifting ‘Set Me Down’ below.
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