New Pearl Jam Album Coming Sooner Than Expected

Pearl Jam fans got great news today: The wait for new music from their heroes is almost over. The grunge pioneers are already hard at work on their 10th studio album, the follow-up to 2009's 'Backspacer.'

Pearl Jam’s recording sessions come amidst a plethora of fanfare surrounding the band’s 20th anniversary year, including re-releases, a forthcoming Cameron Crowe-directed documentary called ‘Pearl Jam: Twenty’ and a two-day music festival in Wisconsin on Labor Day weekend.

Rolling Stone caught up with frontman Eddie Vedder at the Los Angeles studio where the band has been working, and Vedder divulged that the collection is “coming together faster than the band expected.”

He added: “I don't want to jinx it, but it's on!”

Vedder released his latest solo collection, ‘Ukulele Songs,’ on Tuesday (May 31), bringing together his raspy vocals with ukulele sounds.

“I just wanted it to be the one sound,” the crooner said about the album. “At first it was kind of a joke, and then it became a little bit of a challenge, a puzzle, to see if I could create 11 or 12 songs with just a ukulele. It’s like painting with one color. You can ­really appreciate the subtleties and changes in tone.”

Even with the excitement surrounding 20 years of Pearl Jam, Vedder remains grounded.

“I feel like we have to keep our eyes on the road. Being nostalgic is like taking an off-ramp and getting a sandwich — and then you get back on the highway,” he said. “I don't want to be spending the rest of my life at the gas station.”

Watch Pearl Jam Perform their Classic Hit 'Alive'