Gigaton is the eleventh studio album by Pearl Jam, released on March 27, 2020. It was preceded by the singles Dance of the Clairvoyants, Superblood Wolfmoon and Quick Escape. It is the band’s first studio album in six and half years. The cover artwork was produced by photographer Paul Nicklen. Its release was scheduled to coincide with a tour of North America. However, the North American leg was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and eventually rescheduled to occur in 2022. Producer Josh Evans told Variety‘s Jonathan Cohen that Seven O’Clock was pieced together from different portions of a jam early in the recording sessions, and then layered with new elements later on. Eddie Vedder‘s vocal on the solo acoustic Comes Then Goes was captured on the first take, while the 1850s era pump organ Vedder played on the 2015 demo of River Cross was retained for the studio version. On the US Billboard 200, Gigaton debuted at number 5 with 63,000 equivalent album units, marking the band’s twelfth top 10 album. Of that sum, it sold 14,000 vinyl copies, the second largest weekly vinyl sales for a 2020 release.
Tracklist:
- Who Ever Said
- Superblood Wolfmoon
- Dance of the Clairvoyants
- Quick Escape
- Alright
- Seven O’Clock
- Never Destination
- Take the Long Way
- Buckle Up
- Comes Then Goes
- Retrograde
- River Cross
Pearl Jam
Eddie Vedder: lead vocals; guitar, keyboards on Seven O’Clock, pump organ on River Cross, production, concept and layout (credited as Jerome Turner), text
Mike McCready: lead guitar; percussion on Dance of the Clairvoyants, keyboards on Retrograde, production
Stone Gossard: rhythm guitar; bass on Dance of the Clairvoyants, percussion on Buckle Up, vocals on Buckle Up, keyboards on Retrograde, production
Jeff Ament: bass guitar; keyboards and guitar on Dance of the Clairvoyants and Quick Escape, drum loop on Quick Escape, keyboards on Alright and Seven O’Clock, Mbira on Alright and River Cross, programming on Seven O’Clock, piano on Buckle Up, production, layout, concept (credited as Al Nostreet)
Matt Cameron: drums; drum programming on Dance of the Clairvoyants, guitar on Alright and Take the Long Way, vocals and programming on Take the Long Way, production
Additional personnel
Ames Bros.: text
John Burton: engineering
Josh Evans: keyboards on Superblood Wolfmoon, Never Destination, Buckle Up and River Cross, drum programming on Alright, production
Meagan Grandall: backing vocals on Take the Long Way
Bob Ludwig: mastering
Paul Nicklen: photography
Brendan O’Brien: keyboards on Quick Escape and Retrograde
Joe Spix: layout
