Rob’s Album Of The Week: Pearl Jam’s Gigaton

The evolution of Seattle rock pillars Pearl Jam has been an interesting one since the early ’90s. They’ve consistently managed to include various influences in certain albums. For example, releases like 1993’s Vs. and 1994’s Vitalogy incorporated punk while 1996’s No Code and 2002’s Riot Act walked the path of art rock and 2000's Binaural went the folk route. This ability to push the artistic envelope in various directions has set them apart for decades. Their eleventh album, Gigaton, that came out on March 27 via the band’s own label Monkeywrench Records in partnership with Republic Records opens a new experimental chapter with elements of new wave and post-punk.

There’s a certain fearlessness that comes with the new album that the prior ones never really had. I bet that if you pressed play on Gigaton to a casual fan who only knows the radio hits, they’d probably give you a strange look while they listened. The electronic tones are something different for Pearl Jam and they benefit from taking these risks due to having a loyal fan base. When a band has the luxury of people who get what they do, it’s hard to alienate them. Praise definitely needs to be shown for a band that doesn’t want to sound the same with everything they put out.

Another week with COVID-19. We’re all cooped up in our houses or our apartments while fighting off that pesky…