Nowadays, people aren’t leaving their homes all that much thanks to the coronavirus and the self-isolation the pandemic has made commonplace. Pearl Jam is taking a different approach, though. Instead of staying put, the group takes a journey to Mars on their new song, “Quick Escape.”
Aside from being about a space adventure, the aggressive track is also a political commentary, which is most evident when Eddie Vedder sings, “Crossed the border to Morocco / Kashmir then Marrakech / The lengths we had to go to then / To find a place Trump hadn’t f*cked up yet.”
This comes after the band expressed concerns with the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, writing while announcing a tour postponement, “It certainly hasn’t helped that there’s been no clear messages from our government regarding people’s safety and our ability to go to work. Having no examples of our national health department’s ability to get ahead of this, we have no reason to believe that it will be under control in the coming weeks ahead. Again, here in Seattle what we are witnessing we would not wish for anyone. What we do wish for the rest of the country is that they can avoid the harsh negative effects of this and retain their sense of community and take care of one another.”
Alongside the song, the band have also shared a “Quick Escape” online video game, in which you can choose to play as any of the band members, and from there, it’s basically just a clone of the arcade classic Space Invaders.
Listen to “Quick Escape” above and read our review of Gigaton here.
Gigaton is out 03/27 via Republic Records. Get it here.
