Dinosaur Jr – Farm

The second album since the original line up reformed and its business as usual for Dinosaur Jr. It’s all there in opener Pieces, the languid, effortless vocals, the slacker guitar solos and wonderful fuzzy melody. I Want You To Know is proper alt grunge, lurching around all over the place, but also with some none more rock guitar lines. It reminds me a lot of Buffalo Tom, which is only a good thing. This is something that carries on a little with Ocean In The Way. Maybe it’s J singing, slightly more enunciated than before, the melodies shining through more and being allowed to live in harmony with the solos, rather than be overshadowed by them. Plans seems much more melancholy, a beautiful continuous rolling wave of a song. Your Weather sounds like the Byrds drenched into guitar effects and strung out, while single Over It almost achieves classic Dinosaur territory, but although really catchy doesn’t quite have the hook of some of their best remembered songs. Friends is Dinosaur as you’d expect, but with an element of the Foo Fighters jagged rocking and Quo’s heads down boogie present and correct. Said The People is incredibly lethargic, and oddly sounds like Neil Young’s balladeering with a fuzzy wall of guitars threatening to intrude every now and again. There’s No Here is a chugging boogie, but good for it, while See You is a twiddly prog folk style thing, with elements of Jack White’s songwriting musically. The eight minutes plus slacker epic I Don’t Want To Go There sends the album to dizzying heights. It’s just a shame that it’s not the album closer instead of damp squib Imagination Blind, but it’s a minor quibble.

Farm is released by [PIAS] on 22nd June. A single, Over It, precedes it on the 15th.
Dinosaur Jr myspace is here