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Apr 21, 2021 By Mark Redfern Photography by Cara Totman

Alt-rock veterans Dinosaur Jr. are releasing a new album, Sweep It Into Space, this Friday via Jagjaguwar. Now they have shared its third single, “Take It Back,” via a stop-motion animated video for it. Callum Scott-Dyson directed the video. Watch it below, followed by the band’s upcoming tour dates.

In a press release Scott-Dyson says for the video he “really wanted to use the creature on the front of the album sleeve for Sweep It Into Space as an inspiration and springboard for its own little adventure, exploring some simple notions of creation, dependence, coming of age and searching for another like yourself. I wanted to mix those themes with my style of stop motion animation, everything being very DIY and handmade, using any materials I could get my hands on to bring the idea to life and give it a surreal and otherworldly feel. I’ve always been a really big fan of Dinosaur Jr., so I was working extra hard to do something that could add to such an awesome track and sit alongside it.”

Dinosaur Jr. have also announced some special guests for their Camp Fuzz II event/fantasy camp in Big Indian, NY on July 27 - 30. Actor/writer Michael Imperioli will be performing a live reading from his novel The Perfume Burned His Eyes, former Saturday Night Live cast member Tim Meadows will be hosting a stage banter workshop, and there will be a performance from punk legends Negative Approach.

The band had also previously announced a livestream concert that will come from the Sinclair in Boston, MA on May 1st at 9 p.m. EST. Tickets are available here and are $15 (or $40 for a more deluxe experience, including a soundcheck and a Q&A with the band).

Previously Dinosaur Jr. shared Sweep It Into Space’s first single, “I Ran Away,” which was one of our Songs of the Week. Kurt Vile co-produced the album and plays guitar on “I Ran Away.” Then they shared the album’s second single, “Garden.”

Sweep It Into Space is the band’s twelfth studio album and the follow-up to 2016’s Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not and 2012’s I Bet on Sky.

The album was recorded at the Biquiteen studios in Amherst, Massachusetts, starting in late 2019. The pandemic interrupted recording with Vile and so the band’s J Mascis says in a press release that he “ended up just mimicking a few things [Vile had] done.”

“I was listening to a lot of Thin Lizzy, so I was trying to get some of that dueling twin lead sound,” Mascis continues. “But the recording session was pretty well finished by the time things really hit the fan. When the lockdown happened in March, that meant I was on my own. But it was cool.”

Longtime band member Lou Barlow also wrote and sang two songs on the album. The band also features drummer Murph (birth name Emmett Jefferson Murphy III).

Barlow also recently announced a new solo album, Reason to Live (out May 28 on Joyful Noise), and shared its first single, “Over You.”

Read our 2014 joint interview between Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis and The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus.

Vile’s last album, Bottle It In, came out in 2018 via Matador, although he recently signed to Verve Records.

Dinosaur Jr. Tour Dates:

Sat. May 22 - Swanzey, NH @ Cheshire Fairgrounds - SOCIALLY DISTANCED
Sun. May 23 - New Haven @ CT Westville Music Bowl - SOCIALLY DISTANCED
Tue. July 27 - Fri. July 30 - Big Indian, NY @ Camp Fuzz
Tue. Sept. 7 - Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre
Thu. Sept. 9 - Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall
Fri. Sept. 10 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Venue TBA
Sat. Sept. 11 - Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre
Mon. Sept. 13 - Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre
Tue. Sept. 14 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
Thu. Sept. 16 - St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
Mon. Sept. 20 - Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
Tue. Sept. 21 - Kansas City, MO @ Truman
Thu. Sept. 23 - Austin, TX @ Moody Theater @ ACL Live
Fri. Sept. 24 - Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
Sat. Sept. 25 - Dallas, TX @ Canton Hall
Mon. Sept. 27 - Birmingham, AL @ Saturn
Tue. Sept. 28 - Bloomington, IN @ The Bluebird
Thu. Sept. 30 - Columbus, OH @ Athenaeum Theatre
Fri. Oct. 1 - Cleveland, OH @ Agora
Sat. Oct. 2 - Ithaca, NY @ State Theatre
Fri. Nov. 12 - Nashville, TN @ Brooklyn Bowl
Sat. Nov. 13 - Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade
Mon. Nov. 15 - Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
Tue. Nov. 16 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
Thu. Nov. 18 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
Fri. Nov. 19 - New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall
Sat. Nov. 20 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
Fri. Nov. 26 - Northampton, MA @ Academy of Music
Sat. Nov. 27 - Boston, MA @ House Of Blues
Thu. Feb. 3 - Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy’s and Harriets
Fri. Feb. 4 - Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl
Sat. Feb. 5 - Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
Mon. Feb. 7 - Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory Music Hall
Tue. Feb. 8 - Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
Thu. Feb. 10 - Seattle, WA @ Showbox at Market
Fri. Feb. 11 - Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
Sat. Feb. 12 - Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
Tue. Feb. 15 - Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades
Wed. Feb. 16 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
Thu. Feb. 17 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
Sat. Feb. 19 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda
Sun. Feb. 20 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda
Tue. Feb. 22 - San Diego, CA @ Observatory North Park
Wed. Feb. 23 - Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
Fri. Feb. 25 - Albuquerque, NM @ El Rey Theatre
Sat. Feb. 26 - Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre

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