Rock Musicrelix
Stone Gossard and Mason Jennings: Shield Bearers
Six years after issuing their first Painted Shield single, Stone Gossard and Mason Jennings have grown their slow-burn project into a de facto supergroup. What’s a musician to do when he’s in one of the biggest bands in the world but that band has been known to take up to seven years between albums? For guitarist Stone Gossard—who also played in the seminal grunge bands Green River and Mother Love Bone before co-founding Pearl Jam—the answer is to work with different collaborators until his well of ideas solidifies into the new musical vehicle. And the Seattle musician’s latest, slow-burn project is Painted Shield, a de facto supergroup featuring Los Angeles-based former Pearl Jam drummer Matt Chamberlain, Twin Cities singer-songwriter Mason Jennings and Seattle singer/keyboardist Brittany Davis. Created in a socially distant manner by sharing files, years before that recording method was a forced norm, the band’s self-titled debut incorporates elements of electronica (“I Am Your Country” and “Evil Winds”), pop psychedelia (“Ten Years From Now” and the title track), lo-fi (“On the Level”) and upbeat funk-rock (“Knife Fight”).
