SOUND JUDGEMENT
THE LATEST ALBUM RELEASES RATED AND REVIEWED
PEARL JAM - GIGATON
★★★
PEARL Jam are back with their 11th studio album, titled Gigaton – their first studio album since 2013’s Lightning Bolt, so it’s been a long wait for fans. And by their own admission, the making of this has been a “long journey”.
Gigaton, featuring an album cover showing a melting ice cap, was worth the wait.
Given the changing landscape of the last few years, the band haven’t shied away from referencing things like Trump, who gets a mention in Great Escape as Eddie Vedder sings about finding a place the American President “hadn’t f ***** d yet”.
The 12 tracks make you feel Pearl Jam have emerged from a musical retreat, and this is the product.
SUFJAN STEVENS AND LOWELL BRAMS – APORIA ★★★
MICHIGAN maverick Sufjan Stevens takes yet another unexpected turn with an album made with his stepfather Lowell Brams, who founded the Asthmatic Kitty label to release his first record A Sun Came.
Now Brams is retiring and Aporia – a word with meanings including an irresolvable contradiction as well as a state of puzzlement, appropriate for the unsettling atmosphere – marks his departure.
There are 21 synth-led tracks, mostly instrumental, ranging from 33 seconds to three minutes 35 seconds. Best listened to through headphones, Aporia was recorded over many years, but emerges now as a fitting soundtrack to these troubling times.
THE CHATS – HIGH RISK BEHAVIOUR
★★★
WITH the country in lockdown, High Risk Behaviour (HRB) by Australian punk-rockers The Chats might just be the album everyone needs right now.
Its frantic tempo and thrashing guitars are a perfect soundtrack, whether you’re working out or angrily doing the dishes.
It’s fast-paced and catchy; half of the 14 songs are less than two minutes, though some tracks are a bit samey and often it’s hard to tell when one ends and another begins.
Even if punk isn’t your usual go-to, HRB is worth a listen, just to vent some frustration – plus, it’s not like you’ve got much else on.