Pearl Jam announce new album ‘Dark Matter’ and share title track
Pearl Jam have announced details of their new album Dark Matter, set for release on April 19th, and shared the title track.
The band’s 12th album is set to be released through Monkeywrench Records and serves as the follow-up to Gigaton, which arrived in 2020. Since making their last LP, singer Eddie Vedder went solo with Earthling in 2022, and Pearl Jam have also toured excessively over the last two years.
Although playing shows has been their focus, Pearl Jam have also been occupied in the studio with several of the band members previously dropping hints about Dark Matter, which has now been officially announced.
After Vedder previously teamed up with producer Andrew Watt on his solo album Earthling, he has been tasked with being at the helm for the upcoming Pearl Jam album. Notably, Watt recently produced Hackney Diamonds by The Rolling Stones.
In a statement, Vedder said of making the new record during a three-week period at Shangri-La Studios in Malibu: “I’m getting chills, because I have good memories. We’re still looking for ways to communicate. We’re at this time in our lives when you could do it or you could not do it, but we still care about putting something out there that is meaningful and we hopefully think is our best work. No hyperbole, I think this is our best work.”
Meanwhile, Jeff Ament added: “What Ed said about getting us in a room at this point, we felt like we were about to make a really important record. A lot of that had to do with the atmosphere Andrew set up. He has encyclopedic knowledge of our history, not only as a band and how we wrote songs, but as players. He could pinpoint things we did on old songs to the point where I was like, ‘What the fuck is he talking about?’ His excitement was contagious. He’s a force. I just want to say thanks for keeping us on track. I couldn’t be prouder of us as a band. I feel so grateful for the fans, but mostly for my brothers and these people I’ve made music with.”
The official announcement arrives after guitarist Mike McCready previously discussed the experience of working with Watt. He said: “He brings this very positive energy and knows how to get really good sounds. At the same time, his energy kind of kicked us in our asses a little bit.”
The guitarist added: “He would be like ‘Come on, dude,’ you know? He is kind of yelling and jumping up and down a lot and being happy. He’s a fan, but he has great structure ideas, great sound ideas, and song ideas. I’m so excited about what he did with us.”
Additionally, Pearl Jam have announced details of a new world tour, which includes stops at Dublin’s Marlay Park, Manchester’s Co-Op Live and London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Richard Ashcroft will support the group in Dublin and London.
Listen to ‘Dark Matter’ and see the tracklist for the new album below.
Pearl Jam – Dark Matter tracklist:
- ‘Sacred Of Fear’
- ‘React, Respond’
- ‘Wreckage’
- ‘Dark Matter’
- ‘Won’t Tell’
- ‘Upper Hand’
- ‘Waiting For Stevie’
- ‘Running’
- ‘Something Special’
- ‘Got To Give’
- ‘Setting Sun’
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