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**Several Shades Of Why**
★★★★☆

After three decades of wielding his Jazzmaster like a sonic sledgehammer through Dinosaur Jr.'s fuzz-drenched epics, J Mascis doing an acoustic album seemed about as likely as Keith Richards joining a monastery. Yet here we are in 2011, witnessing the grey-maned guitar god strip away the Marshall stacks and ear-splitting volume to reveal something altogether more vulnerable and, dare we say it, beautiful.

The genesis of Several Shades Of Why stretches back to Mascis's early solo forays in the mid-2000s, when he'd occasionally surface at small venues armed with nothing but an acoustic guitar and that distinctive drowsy drawl. These intimate performances offered glimpses of a songwriter who'd been hiding behind walls of distortion for decades, revealing melodies that had always been there but were often buried beneath Dinosaur Jr.'s glorious cacophony. When Sub Pop came calling for a proper solo statement, Mascis finally felt ready to step fully into this quieter realm.

What emerges is an album that sits comfortably in the folk-rock tradition, drawing from the same well as Neil Young's more contemplative moments while maintaining Mascis's own slacker sensibilities. The production, handled by Mascis himself alongside longtime collaborator John Agnello, bathes everything in a warm, analog glow that perfectly complements the intimate nature of the material. Acoustic guitars shimmer and ring with crystalline clarity, while subtle touches of electric guitar, banjo, and keyboards add texture without overwhelming the fragile beauty of the songs.

The album's centrepiece, "Listen To Me," stands as perhaps the finest song Mascis has ever written. Built around a deceptively simple fingerpicked pattern, it gradually unfolds into something genuinely moving, with Mascis's vocals – always an acquired taste but perfectly suited to this material – conveying a sense of hard-won wisdom. The way he stretches the word "please" in the chorus is absolutely heartbreaking, revealing an emotional directness that was often obscured in his louder work.

"Can I" operates in similarly affecting territory, its circular guitar figure hypnotic and melancholy, while "What Happened" finds Mascis at his most Neil Young-esque, complete with harmonica flourishes that somehow avoid pastiche. The title track showcases his underrated skills as a lead guitarist in an acoustic context, weaving intricate melodic lines that would make Bert Jansch proud. Meanwhile, "Is It Done" proves he hasn't entirely abandoned his love of volume, building to a surprisingly heavy climax that wouldn't sound out of place on a Dinosaur Jr. record.

The album isn't without its longueurs – at 65 minutes, it occasionally feels overstretched, and some of the mid-tempo numbers blur together. "Make It Right" and "Too Deep" suffer from a certain sameness that suggests Mascis might have benefited from some ruthless editing. His vocals, while charming in their laconic delivery, sometimes lack the dynamic range to sustain interest across an entire album's worth of ballads.

But these are minor quibbles with what amounts to a genuine revelation. Several Shades Of Why works because it doesn't feel like a radical departure so much as a natural evolution. The DNA of Dinosaur Jr.'s greatest moments – the yearning melodies, the emotional weight, the sense of beautiful sadness – is all here, just presented in a different context. It's the sound of a songwriter finally comfortable enough in his own skin to let the songs breathe.

The album's legacy has grown considerably in the years since its release. It spawned two equally impressive follow-ups, Tied To A Star and Elastic Days, establishing Mascis as a formidable acoustic troubadour in his own right. More importantly, it demonstrated that the quiet-loud dynamics that made Dinosaur Jr. so compelling could work just as effectively in reverse – sometimes the most powerful statement is the whispered one.

Several Shades Of Why stands as proof that great songwriters can reinvent themselves at any stage of their career. After years of beautiful noise, J Mascis discovered that sometimes beautiful silence can be just as powerful. It's an album that rewards patience and reveals new layers with each listen – much like the man who made it.