Niki N. Phaser

Grunge survivors Pearl Jam have offered a gift to fans through their MySpace page. The song is called The Fixer and it’s the first single from their upcoming album, Backspacer, which is due for release this September. It will be a breath of fresh material amongst the string of reissues they are planning. Even before the premiere, it was known that The Fixer is going to be used for a Target commercial, directed by Cameron Crowe. He’s a good friend of the band and has worked with them before, on his 1992 grunge-era comedy Singles. He is also at the helm of some sort of documentary on the band, a 20 year anniversary retrospective. This new single might baffle some of Pearl Jam’s fans, as it has very little guitar heaviness on it or, in fact, none at all. It was the band’s intention to get more poppy on this one, but the results sound a bit like Counting Crows back in the 90′s. However, after their previous album, Pearl Jam, being so punchy, a change was rather expected.