Pearl Jam—“Quick Escape”

The release of Pearl Jam’s Gigaton is right around the corner (March 27, 2020), and they have now dropped a third track, “Quick Escape.”

On the verses of “Quick Escape,” the band leans deep into Jeff Ament’s pulsing bass groove and guitars punctate, alternately, with low-string riffing and angular chord stabs of the same family as those Mike McCready drops in on “Dance of the Clairoyants” (Gigaton’s first single).

At 3:36, McCready howls an outro solo on a Strat through an octave fuzz and wah, as Ament’s distorted bass climbs and falls and drummer Matt Cameron goes Keith Moon. It’s easy to imagine McCready and co. getting unhinged on this one when they bring it to the stage.

©2020 Guitarete/Alan Barry (Text of post only; images and videos, of course, belong to Pearl Jam)

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