Pearl Jam will release their twelfth studio album, Dark Matter, on Monkeywrench Records/Republic Records on April 19, 2024 and launch a 35-date worldwide tour this May. The album’s title track is available now HERE. Produced by multi-GRAMMY® award winning producer Andrew Watt, Dark Matter, marks the band’s first release since critically-acclaimed Gigaton (2020).

In 2023, the members of Pearl Jam—Eddie Vedder [vocals], Jeff Ament [bass], Stone Gossard [rhythm guitar], Mike McCready [lead guitar], and Matt Cameron [drums]—retreated to Shangri-La Studios in Malibu where they simply plugged in and played with producer Andrew Watt at the helm.

The musicians faced one another in the same space and communicated sonically at the highest level. Writing and recording in a burst of inspiration, Dark Matter was born in just three weeks.

As a result, Dark Matter channels the shared spirit of a group of lifelong creative confidants and brothers in one room playing as if their very lives depended on it. All of the blood, sweat, tears, and energy of a storied career felt renewed and poured into this one body of work.

The band members personally previewed the record with a listening party at the iconic Troubadour in West Hollywood during GRAMMY® week:

Vedder said: “I’m getting chills, because I have good memories. We’re still looking for ways to communicate. We’re at this time in our lives when you could do it or you could not do it, but we still care about putting something out there that is meaningful and we hopefully think is our best work. No hyperbole, I think this is our best work.”

Ament added, “What Ed said about getting us in a room at this point, we felt like we were about to make a really important record. A lot of that had to do with the atmosphere Andrew set up. He has encyclopedic knowledge of our history, not only as a band and how we wrote songs, but as players. He could pinpoint things we did on old songs to the point where I was like, ‘What the fuck is he talking about?’ His excitement was contagious. He’s a force. I just want to say thanks for keeping us on track. I couldn’t be prouder of us as a band. I feel so grateful for the fans, but mostly for my brothers and these people I’ve made music with.”

The band is celebrating indie record stores with the release of a special edition of Dark Matter on April 20. Only at participating stores as part of Record Store Day. Get more information and find stores at www.recordstoreday.com.

Dark Matter album packaging features light painting art by Alexandr Gnezdilov. Light painting is an artistic form of photography where images are created by adjusting a camera’s exposure for an extended period and using a light source, such as a flashlight, to “paint” in the dark. The album cover art was crafted using a large self-made kaleidoscope. Each letter visible on the cover was individually captured and handwritten midair with a specially designed flashlight to create the pearlescent effect. See more info on Alexandr Gnezdilov below.

Philanthropy and activism are integral to Pearl Jam and prioritized in everything the band does. Despite keeping ticket prices low, Pearl Jam has dedicated $5 per ticket to support its Vitalogy Foundation and donated nearly $30M to effect positive social change, especially in the areas of health, the environment, and arts’ education. The band and its fans give back significantly through Vitalogy and would be honored for each venue to join that effort by making a donation to Vitalogy.

If you are interested in learning more about Vitalogy’s work, please reach out to us directly or visit
https://pearljam.com/acts/vitalogy. Vitalogy is a 501c3 public charity and your donation will be subject to the tax benefits your company is afforded for this type of donation. We hope you will be supportive of this great cause.