Was the year 2000, the grunge days were already far away and the nu metal was covering the rock scene on the start of the decade. On May of the same year Pearl Jam released an album experimenting with sounds and going on a very long tour; we are talking about Binaural released 20 years ago.
The opening track “Breakerfall” is an explosion of powerful rock sound followed by the song “God´s Dice” with the same style, and you may think where´s the experimentation? As those are 2 strong rock songs with similarities to prior released tunes from albums such as Ten or Yield.
When “Nothing As It Seems” starts, with that guitar solo from Mike McCready accompanied by the acoustic guitar from Stone Gossard and Eddie Vedder´s voice is a taste of the experimental sound where the song keeps going on including more elaborated guitar solos with delay effects, was something which the band was not used to do but with the different styles of music at the time turned to be something refreshing and different. Totally worth to listen the song a couple of times to fully digest it.
Another experimental tracks are “Sleight Of Hand” and “Rival” with a complex integration of the guitar chords, riffs and other sound effects such as wah and delays. Of course, a song with ukulele couldn’t be left out on this experiment, the name is “Soon Forget”.
A song that became a fan favorite from this record due to the sentiment of this sad and dark love track is “Light Years”, with those beautiful lyrics such as “Your lights reflected now, Reflected from a far, We were but stones, Your light made us stars”.
Binaural might not have been the favorite from fans who knew the band on Vs & Vitalogy era but was an album that allowed Pearl Jam to explore different sounds and be able to do something different. 20 years later is a proof of how a band can take some risks while using new techniques on their sound to keep being happy and true, such as they state on their “Thin Air” song. So, don´t be afraid to experiment with something new, take risks and get the needed inspiration from this album.