Dinosaur Jr. will release a new studio LP,  There Near, August 28 via Jagjaguwar. Along with the album details, the influential alt-rock trio has also dropped the record’s new lead single/video, “Several Got Away” and confirmed a fall North American tour.

Guy Kozak, who directed the video, said along with the album announcement,  “I wanted to do something a little tongue-in-cheek with a kind of ‘backyard movie’ feel that could fit in nicely with the existing canon of dinosaur jr. music videos. The first bit of inspiration came from a great Henry Darger painting of kids being terrorized by two giant floating hands of fire. Then I got thinking about the rapture and it came together from there. The guys were really game for it all and I was honored that they let me chase them around a big field with my camera like a psycho. We were on a tight schedule with the turnaround so I had to learn a lot of VFX stuff over the course of weekend, but I like the way the effects all turned out.”

There Near is the sixth studio album Dinosaur Jr. have released in the 20 years since their reformation, following their initial breakup in 1997. The record is said to be “created in short, intense bursts over the course of a year at Amherst’s Bisquiteen Studio, almost entirely by Dino’s core trio—king of the thunder tubs, Murph, human tornado Lou Barlow on bass/vocals and the inimitable J Mascis on guitar/vocals— with a bit of piano and organ work by local master musician, Ken Mauri. And the album roars from start to finish.”

The album announce goes on to say, “J’s guitar tone throughout There Near is even more animalistic than usual, perhaps owing partly to the fact he’s playing through a recently acquired 70’s Mesa Boogie MK 1 amp.”  “I bought the same amp that Chris Dixon had when we made our first album,” Mascis said in a statement. “Chris recorded us at his house with his amp. It has a real interesting sound I haven’t gotten for a while. And it’s something I was trying to get back to on this album. The Stones started using Mesa Boogies in the ’70s after they heard Santana playing through them. Then The Clash copied The Stones, etc. As the years went on into the MK 2 and so on, the Boogie got more metal sounding. But the MK 1 has a souped-up Fender sound. You always hear how Rick Rubin always makes bands he’s producing sit down and listen to their first album and say let’s get back to that sound. So I just gave myself his advice. “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. And a lot of it will be influenced by whatever esoteric mumbo jumbo I’m reading at the time. I try not to think too hard about any of it. I think it’s a drag that Spotify shows all the lyrics to a song. What’s the fun of that?.”

Dinosaur Jr, who have released some stray recordings and odds-and-ends collections since 2021’s Sweep It Into Space, will kick off a tour in advance of their first album in five years at Kingston, NY’s Ulster Performing Arts Center on July 10. The show is also the start of a round of co-headlining summer dates with Band of Horses. Their newly announced fall shows will commence at Las Vegas’ Brooklyn Bowl on October 9 and come to a close at New Orleans’ Tipitina’s on November 7. 

Barlow will also celebrate his 60th birthday with a guest-heavy show at Turners Falls, MA’s Shea Theater Arts Center on Friday, August 7. Billed as Lou Barlow’s 60th Birthday Bash Variety Show, the evening will feature guest spots from Adam Green (Moldy Peaches), Jeffrey Lewis, Bobby Bare Jr, Sick of Fun (A tribute to Deep Wound), Ladybugs (A Tribute to Eric Gaffney), Black Francis, Aleksa Atkinson, Izzy Barlow and others. Sunburned Hand of the Man will serve as the night’s house band and Mark Perretta will be the concert’s Master of Ceremonies:

There Near
1. Several Got Away
2. No Friends
3. Everything At Once
4. Take Me With You
5. Blowin’ Up
6. Gone Off
7. Clam Along
8. Walk Me Back
9. Read The Room
10. Put It Down
11. No One’s Ready

Here’s a look at Dinosaur Jr.’s upcoming dates
Fri. July 10 – Kingston, NY @ Ulster Performing Arts Center +
Sat. July 11 – New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall +
Sun. July 12 – Hammondsport, NY @ Point of the Bluff Vineyards +  
Tue. July 14 – Richmond, VA @ Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden +
Thu. July 16 – Wilmington, NC @ Greenfield Lake Amphitheater +
Fri. July 17 – Asheville, NC @ Hellbender by The Orange Peel +
Sat. July 18 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern +
Mon. July 20 – Knoxville, TN @ Tennessee Theatre + 
Tue. July 21 – Birmingham, AL @ Avondale Brewing Company +
Wed. July 22 – Louisville, KY @ Iroquois Amphitheater +
Fri. July 24 – Lansing, MI @ Grewal Hall
Sat. July 25 – Fishers, IN @ Nickel Plate District Amphitheater +
Sun. July 26 – Columbus, OH @ KEMBA Live! +
Tue. July 28 – St. Louis, MO @ The Factory +
Thu. July 30 – Davenport, IA @ Capitol Theatre +
Fri. July 31 – West Des Moines, IA @ Val Air Ballroom +
Sat. Aug. 1 – Omaha, NE @ Astro Theater +
Fri. Oct. 9 – Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl*
Sat. Oct. 10 – Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre*
Sun. Oct. 11 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up*
Thu. Oct. 15 – Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues*
Fri. Oct. 16 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Bellwether*
Sun. Oct. 18 – San Francisco, CA @ The Castro Theatre*
Tue. Oct. 20 – Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades*
Thu. Oct. 22 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall*
Fri. Oct. 23 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune*
Sat. Oct. 24 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune*
Mon. Oct. 26 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Complex*
Thu. Oct. 29 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre*
Fri. Oct. 30 – Fort Collins, CO @ Washington’s*
Mon. Nov. 2 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater*
Wed. Nov. 4 – Houston, TX @ House of Blues*
Thu. Nov. 5 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s*
Fri. Nov. 6 – San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger*
Sat. Nov. 7 – New Orleans, LA @ Tipitina’s*

(+) co-headline with Band of Horses
 (*) w/ special guest Stef Chura