The music of Dinosaur Jr. has been causing seismic shifts throughout this rocky underground for close to 40 years now. That’s a long ass time. Even when we thought the indie scene pioneers had gone extinct as a band for a decade, they not only managed to reemerge in better form than most reunion acts do, but have consistently stuck with it, reminded us that piling on the years doesn’t have to mean that your sound needs to become any less vital. You can barely get that out of most artists coming up these days, especially when they’re too busy chasing algorithms and content creation.

The classic Dinosaur Jr sound needs no introductions really against all that noise anyhow. If you know by now, then you absolutely know. It’s almost too difficult to even try to put words into print just how unmatched at their game J Mascis, Lou Barlow and Murph are when they’re firing on all cylinders together. Still, the Amherst heroes’ 13th studio album, There Near, is another milestone in cementing their legacy among the few greats still thriving by offering a solid body of guitar rock reinvented in an image only as tall as their own wall of the sound is.

It’s not to say that their discography has been only peaks upon mountains, though it’s also not say that whenever they’ve detoured from the very loud (see: the transition from Farm into shaggy, psychedelic jams and freak scene folk outs across 2012’s I Bet On Sky, 2016’s Give A Glimpse of What Yer Not, and 2021’s Sweep It Into Space) that tempering those notches on their amps just a bit hasn’t resulted in some decaffeinated comedowns from a high. There Near is like they’ve cranked it back up a few levels while rolling up a satisfyingly melodious joint filled with warm and fuzzy indie rock friction.

There’s no grand concept strung across its 11 tracks — unless you count Lou’s two politically-charged contributions in the swaggering taunt to a wannabe king, “Blowin’ Up”, or the heavy jangler of doom, “No Ones Ready” — though it doesn’t mean you can’t invite oblivion in obtusely (“Several Got Away”, “Gone Off”) or ache alongside J (“No Friends”, “Take Me With You”, “Read the Room”) through some free-wheeling fret-scalers backed by big rhythmic pockets. As many times as we’ve heard the dude show off his solo skills to achieve guitar god status, they feel looser and more relaxed fit here even if their proficiency is unrivaled.

And yet, when you pair it together with Barlow’s deep bass bouncing around the room and Murph’s all-over crash, a lot of these songs are some of their most liveliest and tunefulness since their 2005 return. In short, it’s a Dinosaur Jr. album. And that’s not something to take for granted.

Highlights: “Several Got Away”, “Read the Room”, “Put It Down”

Dinosaur Jr.’s There Near will be released August 28th on Jagjaguwar.

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