It’s now 30 years since Clerks was released and if ever by image there was a personificaiton of both Jay and Silent Bob as a musician, J Mascis would surely be it. Hirsute and permanently rocking the slacker-wizard look, the Dinosaur Jr. frontman is renonwned for being taciturn to the point of obtuseness, a 20th century approach to an era where sharing everything with everyone is the norm.
What Do We Do Now (Without the question mark) is his fourth studio album solo, a run on which previously he had eschewed the Dino’s post-grunge sonics for a more pastoral sound. This time though – don’t ask him how, he’s already said he doesn’t know – there are both guest players and electric guitars, making it harder to avoid the conclusion that is a band record, just without the rest of the band.
Not that it’s been inferred that there will be no more Dinosaur Jr. material, despite the trio’s sometimes fractious history. Mascis though uses What Do We Do Now to underline his songwriting credentials on the likes of Can’t Believe We’re Here and Hangin Out, but it’s on the Neil Young-evoking You Don’t Understand Me that the veteran finally reaches transcendence. Happily, but unrelated, there’s also an amnesty on bringing your old videos back.
You can read a full review here.
The Voice Of Unreason 