Music, musings and miscellanea

This review originally appeared at Chartattack.com

We’ve known for quite sometime that J Mascis was capable of more delicate musicianship than the fuzzed-out bombast of his guitar histrionics in Dinosaur Jr., but we rarely get a chance to hear the alt.rock legend unencumbered from some form of backing band.

Freed from the guitar squalls that accompany his day job, Several Shades Of Why offers a rare glimpse into Mascis’s soul, since we can actually hear him emoting in his singing. Though he’s invited several high-profile guests to help out, including current muse/sideman Kurt Vile, Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew and Sophie Trudeau of Godspeed/Thee Silver Mt. Zion fame, there’s not a drummer in the bunch. Instead, these guests help bring Mascis’s stark acoustic numbers to life while keeping his laconic drawl front and centre.

Each of these songs could have sat comfortably on the next Dinosaur record. But rather than offer another blast of thundering alt.rock (and don’t get me wrong, I’m very excited for that next blast) Mascis cleverly flipped the script while offering a different piece of himself. And despite his lengthy run in the biz, that’s a seldom-heard treat.

“Not Enough” directed by Chad VanGaalen