It’s taken him a little over ten years, but Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard is set to release his second solo album, Moonlander, on June 26.  The guitarist says that while he originally had some tracks ready to go about five years ago, he needed time to make sure that the album came out just right.

“It’s just a kind of a slow process with me, which I think is good for me, Personally looking back and really picking and culling through songs…after a long period of time, really sort of being able to have some objectivity about whether I really like them or whether they’re sort of similar to something else or whether they’re not as good as I think they are.  I think that time gives you that perspective.”

The guitarist adds that the forthcoming album boasts a variety of musical styles and will feature blues and heavy metal influences.  “[Moonlander is] just about taking chances that you might not take in another situation or just pushing those boundaries as much as you can,” he explains.  “I think everybody in Pearl Jam, everyone in Brad has other things that they’re excited about and I guess this just represents some things that I’m attracted to.”

Moonlander features 11 new songs, which will be previewed one at a time every Tuesday for the next 10 weeks.  The first single from the album, “I Need Something Different,” and the title track are currently streaming at PearlJam.com/Moonlander.  In addition to new tracks appearing online each week, a different original piece of artwork created by Gossard will also be unveiled with each song premiere.

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