Though the band got fans on their toes after they revealed work had begun on their new album as early as last year, it’s now looking like we will have to wait a little longer, though in a recent interview, bassist Jeff Ament has revealed that the album is about halfway done.
Speaking with Fuse, Ament also made clear that there is still a lot more to get through before it’s complete “We’re halfway through. We have a ton of ideas. It’s just a matter of us, everybody clearing enough space to finish it up. The great thing at this point is we’re not really in a hurry to do anything. We kind of do things as naturally as we can.”
Ament confessed that the new album had been put to the back burner for the band to concentrate on some more ‘fun’ opportunities that came their way: “Things come up and we can kind of pick and choose the fun things we want to do. Finishing the record’s taking a little bit of a backseat. It’s always worked better with us to take our time with things.” This would probably include the band’s recent performance at the inaugural Made In America festival alongside Jay Z.
In recent years, Pearl Jam seemed more interested in releasing re-issues of their previous albums, but Ament has discussed how this needs to change: “It was starting to feel a little like we were starting to become a nostalgia band and we really don’t want to rely on that thing. We want to kind of keep focused forward.” According to Loudwire.
The new album will be the band’s primary recording focus before they begin reconsidering re-issues to follow Vs. and Vitalogy
