Bouncing back from the staid
Without a Sound,
J Mascis turns in his most eclectic album since
Green Mind with
Dinosaur Jr.'s
Hand It Over.
Dinosaur's bedrock sound hasn't changed -- it's still a sprawling, electric mess of hard rock filtered through folk-rock song structures -- but
Mascis plays with the arrangements, adding strings, trumpets, and on a handful of tracks,
My Bloody Valentine's slippery guitar orchestrations and vocals (
Kevin Shields and
Bilinda Butcher both sing on the album). These additions make the music sound fresh, but they would only be window dressing if
Mascis' songs weren't as strong as they are. Again, his progressions are subtle, but songs like "I Don't Think," "Nothin's Goin' On," "Can't We Move This," and "Sure Not Over You" are fine additions to his catalog, and help make
Hand It Over one of
Dinosaur Jr.'s most consistent and best records.
–
Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi