A wash of noise reminiscent of Loveless-era My Bloody Valentine introduces one of the strongest tracks on Dirty Side Down, the latest effort by the jam-band road warriors in Widespread Panic. The track wasn’t written by John Bell and company; it’s a cover of “This Cruel Thing” by the late Vic Chesnutt, complete with delicately plucked guitar and a thoughtful croon that perfectly evokes the longtime Panic collaborator. The rest of the record trades on greater complexity and more varied instrumentation—like the alternately hard-driving and ethereal opener, “Saint Ex,” or the title track, which layers a friendly growl over insistent slide guitar that’s initially content to echo organ riffs, but occasionally launches skyward and into the album’s meatiest hooks.