What Do We Do Now

Between his riffy, arpeggiated acoustic strumming and the strongest vocal performance of his career, he cries out, grief-stricken, to hold on to life yet to be lived. With a record this strong so deep into his career, he’s definitely making the most of his own time.

While it’s unmistakably a Mascis solo album, What Do We Do Now just stands apart from anything he’s done to date.

It's an LP of insight and empathy. [Mar 2024, p.82]

The result is Mascis's most fully formed and direct solo set to date. [Feb 2024, p.31]

These songs are ten of his better solo offerings, and they further refine his particular brand of hazy, half-awake beauty.

What Do We Now is a record of beautifully put-together songs played on an acoustic guitar then beefed up by a band (mostly Mascis himself on overdubs, plus a little piano from The B52s’ Ken Mauri and some slide guitar played by Toronto musician Matthew “Doc” Dunn).

There’s nothing mind-blowing, nothing genre-bending or jolting on What Do We Do Now, just a bunch of familiar hooks, sad words, and sepia riffs, a thick blanket of lackadaisical warmth.

It's not quite at the level of Without a Sound, Mascis' definitive pop moment, but What Do We Do Now is the closest he's been to showing his more tender side in years.

On a record full of sprawling, guitar solos, textural acoustics and steady drums, J Mascis's plaintive howl of a vocal tops off everything, adding one more layer of poignancy. [Mar 2024, p.81]

What Do We Do Now is a smörgåsbord of everything we have come to expect from a J Mascis project, and while a multitude of listeners may find themselves clamoring for fresher ideas or a deviation from his tried-and-true formula, it is borderline impossible to listen to the indie rock legend’s latest output and deny that they got what they came for.

While hardly reinventing the wheel with ‘What Do We Do Now,’ J has yet again delivered a set of songs that only an enigma like he could.

Mascis has written so many songs about the same needs and frustrations—his failures to communicate, to be understood, and ultimately accepted—that they can’t help but bleed together. Still, the album’s light touch and content disposition make it a very easy listen, especially when Mascis leans into tenderness.

The only issue is that, over the course of a 45 minute album, Masics’ style can drag a bit. When his songs lose Barlow’s influence, they can tend to lose a bit of energy, and as What Do We Do Now reaches its conclusion, you may be a bit weary of mid-paced plodders like Old Friends and Hangin’ Out. They’re not bad songs as such, there’s just not too much to distinguish them as more than filler.

What Do We Do Now has some interesting moments on its first side, but quite a bit of it does feel leaden and lacking in energy.

As a long-time lead vocalist and lead guitarist with an established style, J Mascis can’t seem to escape himself. Unplugged or not, What Do We Do Now epitomizes this cul-de-sac.