Pearl Jam is headed back to a studio in Los Angeles to resume work on the band’s ninth studio album, and first since its 2006 self-titled release, according to a new report on Billboard.com. The seminal Seattle rockers – recording outside of their hometown for the first time since 1996’s No Code – are working once again with producer Brendan O’Brien and are confident the album will be released in 2009, without the help (again) of a major label.
Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament told Billboard.com that the band is thrilled to have O’Brien at the controls once again. The last time O’Brien manned the boards was 1998’s Yield, although – at the band’s request – he did oversee a complete remix of Pearl Jam’s debut album Ten, which is due Mar. 24 in several formats.
“He brings a brutally honest approach to what he thinks is working and what isn't, and it really moves things along,” Ament told Billboard.com. “We don't get waded down with ideas that maybe aren't even that good. He's one of the few people outside of the band that we trust with our music, and we're really, really looking forward to making this record.”
Ament added that the new material is still in its early stages, and that many ideas are still being tossed back and forth between band members. The solidarity and creativity between them, however, keeps getting better and stronger.
"I saw [guitarist] Mike [McCready] last night and we were both talking about this song and that song,” Ament said. “One of the songs we decided would go down a whole step and he was asking me about a chord progression.”
Ament continued, “[Eddie Vedder] put rough vocals on about half the stuff we worked on in December. There's a handful of really great lyrics. Lyrically, that stuff is in the embryonic stage, but there's a handful of lines and a couple of choruses that are just really great. He keeps getting better.”