ompromisingly on the subject of hype and responsibility: "You kind of have to strike a deal," you have to be able to trust in order to be brutally honest. It's really give and take, and its very hard to do."The thing is, I'm just going to play to those people that can make that deal with me. I won't betray them . We don't think about any of that hype thing; it's really straight forward, its just weird. If you hear we're not doing interviews, it's just because we're trying to keep a little bit of control on this, a little bit of self preservation - music preservation."A stranger to the spotlight for the last year, Vedder, if the less polished and raucous No Code is any indication, sounds and feels like he has just returned from a spiritual quest. His own version of a pilgrimage to a land not on the map and through the elusive arches of his own enlightening nirvana. The vocal chords sound as taut and strained as ever but there is a new found maturity and a fuller, subtler and more nomadic side to his musical persona.In Off He Goes Vedder quivers to the core: "His face seems pulled and tense ... like he's riding on a motorbike ... in the strongest winds." His lyricism is poignant and reeks of his own autobiographical high, his invincibility is discarded and self-preservation seems now to be the greatest motivator and friend of all.Opening with the subtle nuances, delicate chiming and gentle grogginess of Sometimes, Vedder gives no hint as to what to expect. He revels in the unpredictability and suddenly launches into the rock stomp and chordal sashaying of Hail, Hail; it's all open roads and burnished sun. You can picture Vedder with his head thrown back, the tendrils in his neck throbbing and his glassy-eyed stare probing the walls of jangling sound.The familiar rush of Who You Are brays hypnotically and intoxicatingly in a sultry barrage of tribal heartbeat and poignant riffs. Returning to his melancholy signature In My Tree stretches up...
