Pearl Jam has been rolling out Dark Matter since February. Dark Matter will be released on Friday, April 19, but Uproxx’s Steven Hyden has already decided that this album is “their best in decades.” Hyden also specifically lauded “Wreckage” among the album’s “best tunes” that “often sound like homages to their favorite artists” and “will be welcome debuts on any future Pearl Jam setlist.”
On Wednesday, April 17, Pearl Jam released “Wreckage” for all to hear so you can decide whether you love it as much as Hyden. Eddie Vedder sings about “coming through the wreckage” in the chorus and zones in on introspection with lines like, “Visited by thought / And not just in the night / That I no longer give a f*ck who is wrong and who’s right.”
“That one probably has the biggest build for me personally, in terms of hearing it at first and thinking, it’s kind of an Ed song. I wasn’t quite aware of its potency until later,” Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard said in a statement, according to Rolling Stone. “Andrew [Watt] encouraged me to play this little harmonic, acoustic part almost like a Cure melody. I’ve been playing along with the song to relearn it, and I’m really looking forward to playing it live. It’s a really powerful lyric, and I think we did a really great job of taking something and really pushing it to its limit.”
Pearl Jam will support Dark Matter with their previously announced 2024 tour, which is scheduled to begin on May 4 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Listen to “Wreckage” above.
Dark Matter is out 4/19 via Republic Records. Find more information here.
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