Dinosaur Jr. Digs Up the Past on There Near
- Jade Read
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Jade Read
Editor-in-Chief
September 2, 2026
After five years since 2021’s Sweep It Into Space, Dinosaur Jr. returns from their ruins with There Near.
Driven by the band’s desire to get back to the sound of their earlier records, made many efforts to return to the band’s roots. J Mascis went as far as to buy a 1970s Mesa Boogie MK I amplifier, the same model Chris Dixon used when recording Dinosaur Jr.’s first album, to revisit the sound that distinguished their earliest work.
In the official press release for the album, Mascis joked that this came from a piece of advice Rick Rubin gives to bands: “go back and listen to your first album and chase that sound again.” That led Mascis to realize how far that sound had departed from them, and that it was something they needed to find their way back to.
With that, the band scrapped any desire to reinvent themselves or modernize their sound and started writing as they thought, with no concept barring their creative freedom. Allowing Lou Barlow and Murph to record what called to them under the melancholic lyricism of J Mascis allowed the band to find themselves at their best.
That starts with the album’s lead-off single, “Several Got Away,” a song about a lifetime of failed relationships that opens the album with immediate reflection and nostalgia for the past, a natural concept that has followed the creation of the album and sees the single fitting perfectly into the occasion.
One of the biggest callbacks to their early sound is Everything at Once. The song feels reminiscent of the rolling credits of a long-running sitcom that ends unsatisfyingly. The boy never gets the girl, the boy wallows, the show ends. It’s a song that sums up the feeling of unstable relationships that are never certain of an ending or a beginning. The relationship simply sits there, unsure of its identity, until eventually fading away in the quiet understanding of “you don’t want my love,” accompanied by a brilliant solo that brings that early Chris Dixon sound back to the forefront of the band.
Another stellar solo comes in Gone Off, a song that is as ambiguous as it is intentional, finding itself blurred among several themes with no main focal point. Though the theme may not be prevalent, the mood is precise: happy but sad, painful but enjoyable. It serves as one of the most interesting songs on the album.
Then comes a personal favorite, Read The Room, a song that instantly paints a picture of a man singing his own targeted words over a karaoke track to a girl sitting in the back of a bar, unaware that every line is meant for her. The song is so descriptive and intentional that it’s hard not to listen to it and create your own mental image. The vocals come to the forefront, with Mascis making sure what he has to say is as prevalent as ever, delivering heart-wrenching lyrics disguised beneath upbeat instrumentation.
And that is where There Near succeeds most. Dinosaur Jr. isn’t trying to recreate the past or pretend they’re still the same band they were 41 years ago. They’re finding their way back to what made the band take off in the first place. Loud guitars, introspective lyrics and a sense of ambiguity that leaves plenty unsaid. It’s the sound they built their name on, and after all these years, it still sounds like Dinosaur Jr.
Edited by: Stephanie Rodriguez
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