What Do We Do Now" is the fifth solo studio album J MASCIS has recorded since 1996. That's obviously not a very aggressive release schedule, but when you factor in the live albums, guest appearances, and recordings with his various other bands (DINOSAUR JR., THE FOG, HEAVY BLANKET, WITCH, SWEET APPLE, and so on), well, to paraphrase LOU REED, "J's week beats your year." "What Do We Do Now" began to form in the final days of the pandemic. Working in his own Bisquiteen Studio, J began writing a series of acoustic pieces that have a different dynamic than the pieces he writes for DINOSAUR JR. "When I write for the band," he says, "I always try to think of things that Lou and Murph would fit in with. For myself, I think more about what I can do with an acoustic guitar, even on the leads. Of course, this time I added a full drum kit and electric leads, although the rhythm parts are still purely acoustic. I usually try to make the solo stuff simpler so I can play it myself, but I really wanted to add the drums. Once I started doing that, everything else fell into place. So it ended up sounding much more like a band record.
