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Given that the average age of the band is somewhere in the mid-forties you can’t help but feel if the Dinosaur Jr dropped the ‘Jr’ moniker they’d be arguably the most appropriately named band on the planet. Since returning from a ten year hiatus in 2005 the grunge/alt-rock veterans have graced us with one full length album of blistering rock and roll entitled ‘Beyond’ in 2007. They return with their ninth album ‘Farm’ and it’s clear to see from the outset they are on form.
Opening track ‘Pieces’ immediately sets the standard for the album, as it gets of at a blistering pace; Mascis’s volatile concoction of melodic vocal delivery and effortless chord changes are matched only by Murph’s monolithic drumming.
‘Come on down, we’ve got some work to do’ J Mascis groans on the gorgeous Ocean in the Way, without doubt the album’s high water mark, as the usual barrage of power chords gives way to a solitary guitar accompaniment for the bittersweet, melancholic vocal. ‘Your Weather’ hears a pounding drum beat back a dense, distorted guitar riff and sounds like something lifted straight of Neil Young’s ‘Ragged Glory’, which is of course no bad thing. Furthermore, ‘Said the People’ may initially appear as slightly bombastic at nearly eight minutes in length but when the aforementioned is interspersed with Mascis’s impeccable soloing it is certainly no chore to enjoy. It is perhaps ‘See You’ that despite consisting of a pleasant bounce doesn’t really hit the spot as it ambles aimlessly to what feels like a forced crescendo with mandatory guitar solo. Album closer ‘Imagination Blind’ which, whilst brooding and menacing, lacks any sort of distinction and therefore also has an air of the anticlimactic about, but still the overwhelming feeling the listener is left with after hearing ‘Farm’ is one of a job well done.
‘Farm’ is far from diverse; it’s easy to lose track of the album’s specifics as each power chord, hook-laden track feeds into another, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. Dinosaur Jr have returned with a competent, melodic collection which time will no doubt judge as up there with their very best work. Whoever said rock ‘n’ roll’s a young man’s game?
