Dinosaur Jr. Are Back With ‘Several Got Away’—And It Sounds Like They Never Left

The wait is finally over. Dinosaur Jr.—the undisputed kings of jangle-fuzz and feedback-drenched melody—are back in the spotlight. To celebrate the announcement of their 13th studio album, There Near, the legendary trio has dropped the lead single, “Several Got Away” and it’s everything we’ve been craving.

For four decades, J Mascis, Lou Barlow, and Murph have defined the indie rock blueprint. With this new track, they aren’t reinventing the wheel; they’re reminding us why they’re the ones who built it in the first place.

Going Back to the Source

J Mascis has been pretty open about his headspace while putting There Near together. He mentioned that for these sessions, he really wanted to get back to the raw, unpolished energy of the band’s earliest days. To pull that off, he tracked down a 1970s Mesa Boogie MK 1—the exact same amplifier he used on the band’s debut album forty years ago.

You can hear it immediately. “Several Got Away” feels like a sonic time machine. It has that glorious, “blown-out” guitar tone that made people fall in love with the band in the mid-80s. It’s loud, it’s messy in all the right places, and it’s anchored by the kind of effortless melody that Mascis seems to pull out of thin air.

“I’m not always sure what a song is ‘about’ when I’m writing it. I guess the meaning will present itself at some point. I’ll use whatever words work.” — J Mascis

Why “Several Got Away” Hits Home

At 3:33, the song is a masterclass in tension and release. Murph and Barlow lock into a driving, punk-infused rhythm that gives Mascis plenty of room to let his signature, soaring solos bleed through the mix.

It doesn’t sound like it was polished to death in a digital workstation. Instead, it feels like three people in a room, pushing their gear to the absolute limit. The chorus—“Oh, several got away / Drive everyone insane”—is an instant earworm, catchy enough to get stuck in your head for days, but rugged enough to keep its cool.

Mark Your Calendars: There Near

There Near officially lands on August 28, 2026, via Jagjaguwar. It’s their first full-length album in five years, following 2021’s Sweep Into Space, and honestly, it feels like the perfect time for them to make some noise.