Jimmy Eat World

Awesome

Review Score:

(10/10)
This album finally broke Jimmy Eat World into the mainstream late last year, and it's hard to think of a band more deserving of success. Dropped by their label after the commercial failure of their critically acclaimed 1999 album 'Clarity', they overcome this setback to record what is quite simply one of the most infectious and affecting albums of the 21st century.

The album opens with the blistering guitar assault of 'Salt Sweat Sugar' (formerly 'Bleed American'), an astonishing combination of volcanic riffage, perfect melody and angry lyrics (the song details the struggle of coal miners). 'A Praise Chorus', which follows, is 'classic' Jimmy Eat World - a furiously energetic opening, with the song gradually building up to a wonderful, emotional and blurred final coda ('I wanna always feel like part of this was mine/I wanna fall in love tonight'). It's pulsating, thrilling, moving - everything a song should be. Exhiliarating single 'Sweetness' is also all of the above, and like almost every song on the album is crushingly, bruisingly emotional ('Stumble till you crawl/Sinking into sweet uncertainty').

The pure poppy perfection of 'The Middle' enhances and exacerbates the terribly important message of the song (the song is a sympathetic and incredibly uplifting message to the millions of people struggling to comprehend the cruelty of people and the world - 'Just be yourself/It doesn't matter if that's good enough for someone else/It just takes some time/Little girl you're in the middle of the ride/Everything, everything will be just fine'). 'Your House' is a tender, unashamedly romantic and effortlessly catchy acoustic track, again building up to a very moving climax.

The album's two most outstanding songs are tracks six and seven, 'Hear You Me' and 'If You Don't, Don't'. The former is a soft, sad and tearjerkingly sweet letter to a friend and mentor who has passed away, with every note resonating with sadness and regret ('What would you think of me now, so lucky, so stong so proud?/I never said thank you for that/Now I'll never have the chance'). It may well have sounded corny in other hands, but thanks to Jim Adkins' vocals, which are truly stunning (as indeed they are throughout the album), it's devestatingly good. Almost impossibly, 'If You Don't, Don't' matches it for emotion, note for note and word for word. An upbeat yet yearning guitar-driven melody backs up some of the most heartfelt lyrics on the album, and when Adkins sings 'we once walked out on the beach, and once I almost touched your hand' it all becomes almost too much to bear.

However, the four tracks which follow are by no means put in the shade. The two songs which follow, 'Get It Faster' and 'Cautioners' are more experimental turns. On the former, soft-loud dynamics are juxtaposed quite brilliantly, and Adkins practically spits fire at his lyrical target ('I wanna do right by you, but I'm finding out, cheating gets it faster'). 'Cautioners' has a more expansive sound than anything else on the album, and is given five minutes for its tired, broken lyrics and slightly off-beat drum rhythms. This is followed, however, by the poppiest moment on 'Jimmy Eat World', the frighteningly catchy 'Authority Song', with female backing vocals and brisk guitars.

The closer, 'My Sundown', is really something to behold, an epic, tropical ballad which shimmers beautifully on the horizon like the setting sun across the ocean, before it drops beneath the water and all that remains is darkness and silence. I haven't quite figured out whether it's about suicide or not (it does sound like it might be), but it's so incredibly touching anyway that it probably doesn't matter.

This was an album that soundtracked my summer last year, and will probably soundtrack many more. It's a pure adrenaline rush; moving, energising, uplifting and exciting all at once. It's the sort of album that can change your perception of music and maybe your perception of the world. Not many albums can do that.

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