By the turn of the century, Pearl Jam desperately needed a break. They emerged from the roaring success of the 90s a seasoned group that fought Ticketmaster, found themselves on the cover of TIME magazine, cycled through a few drummers and traveled all over the world selling millions of records. 

Those records included the commercially successful Ten, Vs. and Vitalogy along with the perfect weirdness of No Code and maybe their best overall record, 1998’s Yield. Pearl Jam was 5/5 heading into the studio in late 1999 after a short break from the road, sessions that would birth their first record of the new century–Binaural. 

The expectations were stacked firmly against the band and they did something that typically runs a group into trouble–they tried something new. Binaural would be the first Pearl Jam record to not be produced by longtime collaborator Brendan O’Brien and saw them tinker with different recording techniques, hence the album’s title, and their first with new drummer Matt Cameron who replaced Jack Irons following the Yield tour. 

With all of the “new” on board, Pearl Jam delivered a decidedly different album but one that highlights the nuances of their songwriting that contrasts the more upbeat Yield with darker, somber themes. Binaural is a lot cleaner and refined than the grunge-soaked records of the 90s, even on its thrashier moments like the album’s opener “Breakerfall” and later standouts “Insignificance” and “Grievance.” 

Binaural also showcases Pearl Jam’s ability to craft a true rock composition, like the Jeff Ament epic “Nothing As It Seems” or Stone Gossard’s beautiful acoustic number “Of the Girl” and the closing statement of “Parting Ways.” Their versatility as songwriters was evident on every track as they shook off any notion that following up Yield and their stellar work in the 90s would prove to be too tall of a task and that the creative well wasn’t dry just yet. 

Today, Binaural turns 17 years old and has aged as well as any of Pearl Jam’s ten records. A number of the songs remain in solid rotation and during a 2016 stop in Toronto, the band played the album in its entirety. It ultimately proves to be a wonderful contrast to the group’s louder offerings and is fit perfectly for a rainy day.