Dinosaur Jr - Farm

Returning to the music circuit is always a tricky one. Primarily these insignificant events see one or two comeback shows bask in the aura of disappointment with profit in mind, frequently leaving you wishing they’d stayed hidden from the beaming rays of exposure. Thankfully it’s a different tale for Massachusetts lo-fi grunge outfit, Dinosaur Jr.

Since successfully re-establishing themselves in 2007 it’s been an exciting excursion. Numerous noteworthy performances and two new album’s means this ain’t your regular comeback. It’s a successful one. The rarity of such occurrences, just ask Blue, is a tough one to pull off, but Dinosaur Jr came out riffs blazing . No peripheral frills, no deceitful gimmickry and certainly no flash-dance circus aided shows at the O2 were needed to confirm the boisterous potency of these slouchy rock veterans.

We hold our hands up in awe as Joseph Masci and his hermit cohorts re-embellish their legacy with a sixth studio effort that marks a paramount, solo-aided point in their career. ‘Farm’ effectively solidifies this musical epiphany for a band who have earnestly built on their fabled notoriety without any hint of dwindling.

From the opening smash-grab of ‘Pieces’ to the near-seven minute epic of ‘Plans’ we can begin to hear a band who sound comfortable in the position they’re in. As Masci’s fingers dance over six strings the authenticity of the solo is once again restored, smashing the now-stigmatised characteristics of this credible creation into oblivion. The gushes of euphoria heard on ’Farm’ howl like angles under the bellow of an alt-rock, vivacious explosion with certain whiffs of 90’s nostalgia scattered throughout.

For someone who’s been attacking incendiary licks since his band’s birth, it’s stimulating to know that his instrumental dexterity heard on tracks such as ‘Over It’ and ‘I Don’t Wanna Go There’ still sounds as innovative and colossal as the first time he stamped on an effects pedal.

This shouldn’t work really. The odds are against this now-middle aged trio and in times like these Dinosaur Jr are in danger of becoming a parody of themselves, but somehow they’ve flawlessly executed it. The gleaming goblet of success can be held high for now, and by the looks of it they don’t look like slowing down any time soon.