J Mascis Announces New Album What Do We Do Now

Abby Jones Follow

November 14, 2023 | 12:17pm ET

J Mascis has announced his fifth solo album, What Do We Do Now, out on February 2nd via Sub Pop. As a preview, the Dinosaur Jr. mastermind has shared the record’s lead single “Can’t Believe We’re Here” and a star-studded accompanying music video.

Mascis recorded What Do We Do Now at his own studio, Bisquiteen, in Western Massachusetts. With guest performances from The B-52’s Ken Mauri on keys and Matthew “Doc” Dunn on steel guitar, it’ll mark Mascis’ first solo album that features full drum and electric leads, though still backed by some acoustic instrumentation that Dinosaur Jr. fans will find familiar. Pre-orders for physical copies are ongoing.

“When I’m writing for the band, I’m always trying to think of doing things [Dinosaur Jr. bandmates] Lou and Murph would fit into,” Mascis said of his creative process. “For myself, I’m thinking more about what I can do with just an acoustic guitar, even for the leads. Of course, this time, I added full drums and electric leads, although the rhythm parts are still all acoustic. Usually, I try to do the solo stuff more simply so I can play it by myself, but I really wanted to add the drums. Once that started, everything else just fell into place. So it ended up sounding a lot more like a band record. I dunno why I did that exactly, but it’s just what happened.”