"Nothing As It Seems" Is The First Single From Pearl Jam's Sixth Studio Album Binaural 2000 . The Single Was Released On April 25 2000 And Peaked At Number Three On The Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart. The Song Also Appears On Rearviewmirror Greatest Hits 1991-2003 . The Song Was Composed By Bassist Jeff Ament. Ament Plays Upright Bass On The Song Giving It A Very Atmospheric Feel. Guitarist Mike McCready Used A Fender Pedal For The Song Which Provided The Song With Its Distorted Sounds. 1 The Song Was Recorded Using Binaural Recording Techniques And Was Produced By Tchad Blake. Ament On The Song "It Was Just A Little Ditty On A Demo That I Kind Of Played Some Hand Drums On And Had This Little Song. Actually I Spent Quite A Bit Of Time With The Lyrics And I Think Stone Initially Said 'Let's Try That One.' There Were Little Sections Of The Song Where I Definitely Heard Mike Doing His Thing So I Kinda Said 'Hey Man You Need To Write A Theme For These Little Sections.' It's Pretty Cool To See A Little Song That I Wrote Being Played By Everyone. I Mean I Can Almost Kind Of Stand Back And Just Watch This Great Band Play A Song...And Take It To A Completely Different Level. Mike And Ed Vedder They Have That Ability Where They Can Really Raise The Level Of Anything That They Play." 2