J Mascis showed off his softer side for his recent Tiny Desk Concert on NPR. The Dinosaur Jr. frontman performed the acoustic set in support of Tied To A Star, his most recent solo LP.
Mascis kicked things off with album track "Stumble." He kept the the first song pretty low key, with simple acoustic strumming and his mellow falsetto. Tiny Desk Concerts are always intimate, but this performance seemed especially cozy, almost like the guitarist was playing in his living room. He moved on to a stripped down version of "Little Fury Things," a track from Dinosaur Jr.'s 1987 sophomore album, You're Living All Over Me. The acoustic version translated well, but the lack of distortion made it a completely different song.
He switched to a guitar with open tuning and closed things out with a killer combination of "Drifter" and "Heal The Star." Both tracks are from Tied To A Star and really let him show off his virtuosity. He segued seamlessly from the instrumental "Drifter" into "Heal The Star," and pulled off some shredding solos towards the end. Watch the full performance above or download the audio via NPR's official website.
Stream Tied To A Star in full right here at Zumic, or pick it up via Amazon (Vinyl, CD, MP3) and iTunes.
For more music, videos, and news from J Mascis, check out his Zumic artist page.
Source: NPR