J Mascis
Tied To A Star

J is a big kid who never really grew up. An eternal fifty-year-old Peter Pan, always a bit lost in his world of skateboards and rock'n'roll. J is one of the best guitarists of his generation, an inspiration for Kurt Cobain and all the rock music of the nineties. J is back. Tied To a Star is his new album and, once again, it's beautiful. Putting aside the dazzling electric guitar solos of his Dinosaur Jr., he picks up the acoustic guitar and brings out his simple, honest, delicate first-rate songwriting.

When he kicks off "Every Morning", I remember the afternoons after school, when I was still in elementary school. I remember snacks with bread and Nutella in front of endless episodes of Lupin. I remember sometimes stopping on MTV to watch some music videos. I recall a video with a strange guy with long hair playing golf on the crowded streets of New York. It was the video for "Feel The Pain" by Dinosaur Jr. At that moment, I had fun, the music was catchy, and the funny character singing made me smile. Only years later did I discover it was J Mascis, a superb guitarist and singer of one of the iconic bands of American indie rock. Now that quirky guy has whiter hair, he's put on weight but still has that nostalgic goofy air he had twenty years ago, that pure and disarming ability to overwhelm and move you with his crooked voice and guitar always a bit too loud.

Then there's "Wide Awake", a sweet ballad in duet with Cat Power. It has the autumnal flavor of leaves falling slowly on still green grass, it has the color of the clear September sky, it has the lightness of dew trampled barefoot. That's why J Mascis moves me so much every time he releases something new. That's why I'll never stop counting him among my personal idols. J Mascis surprises me every time, squeezes my heart and makes me dream. J is like that, he's like the uncle everyone wishes they had, the nerdy friend adored by all. As "And Then" plays, I can't help but feel a bit saddened, revisiting moments from my adolescence buried under today's stress. I see me and her, hand in hand in her little room while we listen to an old Neil Young record. I see me and my friends on the first day of school, still carrying the scent and colors of summer. J Mascis evokes emotions precisely in such moments, with songs like this. A boundless sweetness, that only he and his acoustic guitar can translate into music. The brief instrumental "Drifter" is an unexpected small jam. It sounds genuine and warm with its blues and compelling rhythm. And then there's the magnificent "Trailing Off", whose electric guitar solo practically becomes the chorus. A track that's addictive, that you have to start again and again. A gentle and delicate sound that then rises, enters your bloodstream, and gives you chills. And it's right here that J returns to being the J we all know. The tender guitarist who can write deep and intense pieces like this, the tender guitarist who, when he picks up his Fender Jazzmaster, leaves all the newcomers trying in vain to imitate him eating dust.

The eternal adolescent J Mascis is back, and once again he has given us a great album. And if J is getting older and becoming more reflective, he's doing it his way. He does it by intertwining the noisy electric guitar with the melancholic folk sound of the acoustic. Tied To a Star is an album for those looking for forty minutes of simple and honest rock. Tied To a Star is an album for those who are no longer twenty but still feel it running through their veins. Tied To a Star is another splendid album from that goofy genius J Mascis, and it's a great listen.