Comfy couches, green tea brewing in the kitchen and a noticeboard full of family photos on the wall. Even without seeing it, you can tell exactly what kind of studio vibe Pearl Jam created for their 10th album. Snug, warm, well-worn, lived in - the truth is, you know exactly how Lightning Bolt is going to sound before you've pressed play.
These "dad rockers"- their words - have quietly graduated from grunge poster boys into one of America's best rock acts, and in the process they've become as dependable as your favourite pair of corduroys.
Not that there's anything wrong with familiarity. "I found my place," growls Eddie Vedder with that now-iconic angry-dog- with-a-bone howl of his on the excellently feisty Getaway. It's a celebratory way to open Lightning Bolt that proves the Seattle grunge survivors may be ticking off boxes but they're doing it with the rugged style and sophisticated vigour that comes from 20 years of experience rocking stadium crowds.
Pleasingly, the first half of the follow-up to 2009's Backspacer has plenty to recommend fans who like those angsty anthems Pearl Jam are known for. First single, Mind Your Manners, is a Spin the Black Circle-style punky workout as Vedder rails against religion, My Father's Son rumbles and spits gloriously for three minutes, while the standout title track adds spacey synths and jagged riffs to Vedder's tortured screams.
If you yell for just one song from Lightning Bolt to be played during Pearl Jam's headlining slot at next year's Big Day Out, make it that one.
