Dinosaur Jr. Dinosaur Jr.

In a promo video for Dinosaur Jr.’s 2016 LP Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not, singer-songwriter Kurt Vile offered a hearty endorsement as he listened to the album for the very first time: “Riffs, sad lyrics—that’s my Dino,” he said, his daughter seated beside him and his speakers blaring. “That’s the Dino I like.” Five years later, Vile’s formally entered the fray as a co-producer on Sweep It Into Space, a follow-up that further reinforces the notion that the legendary indie rock outfit is the rare band to actually improve since reuniting, as they did upon restoring their original line-up in 2005.
You can hear touches of Vile’s influence on the off-kilter, piano-driven pop of “Take It Back”, as well as in the bittersweet chimes of first single “I Ran Away”, which sounds like a clear (yet distinctly fuzzy) descendent of Jackson Browne’s 1977 classic “Running on Empty”. But by design, Dino’s 12th full-length delivers and continues to refine exactly what Vile has come to love and anyone who’s paid attention for the last four decades might expect: wave upon strangely comforting wave of J Mascis’ supernatural guitar work (“To Be Waiting”) and natural melancholy (“I Ain’t”, which features loopy backing vocals from Vile), plus a Lou Barlow-penned highlight that ranks among his best (“Garden”).