Jimmy Eat World
Chase This Light
Interscope Records
By Mike Randall
On the surface, bands like Jimmy Eat World are destined to fail. Following up a breakthrough mainstream alt-pop album (Bleed American/Jimmy Eat World) with a darker, melancholic release (Futures) only to switch gears once again to return to the hooky alt-rock that garnered success in the first place sounds fishy. Throw in the fact that many of Jimmy’s fans have aged (as has the band itself) but the subject matter of their songs has not, and it seems like a recipe for disaster.
Somehow, it’s not.
There aren’t any surprises on Chase This Light and the production is slicker than oil, but Jimmy Eat World have returned to what they do best: writing heart-on-sleeve anthems with huge open-chord choruses that appeal to the rejected teen in all of us. Sometimes playing it safe is the only option, and it has likely bought the band some extra time in the realm of relevance as there’s a whole new crop of high school kids and college rejects who’ll appreciate Jimmy’s reflective take on growing up.
The subject matter consists almost entirely of tracks about relationships that have busted, but it’s not downer music at all. If anything, there’s a triumphant sensibility about it, as it’s written in a way that the victim understood the breakup was inevitable and he will soldier on. ‘The taste doesn’t taste the same again,’ sings frontman Jim Adkins on “Carry You,” as memories of a past lover are overcome by accepting that what’s done is done. ‘You can’t keep safe what wants to break,’ he reminisces on “Always Be,” textbook power-pop about a one-sided romance.
The result of all these songs about getting burned isn’t bitterness. Instead, there are tracks like “Feeling Lucky,” the obligatory cautionary tale about not getting too comfortable during good times. Then, of course, there’s “Dizzy,” a musical cross somewhere between Filter and Radiohead’s “High and Dry,” describing the aftereffect of when that loving feeling goes away.
The instances when Jimmy Eat World branch away from their I’ve-been-dumped formula or let up on the guitar tempo pedal are few in far between, but the standout track is clearly “Gotta Be Somebody’s Blues,” the most angst-ridden track on the record, but also its slowest and most orchestrated as Adkins utilizes a reverb vocal effect similar to Elliot Smith. They’ve probably strayed from these types of tunes because of the commercial implications, a lesson they likely learned after Futures, but the biggest strike against Chase This Light is its uniformity.
There aren’t any singles that are going to be echoing throughout every high school hallway in America on Chase This Light like “The Middle,” but it’s a respectable effort from a band that knows how to fire notes like bullets and keep their collective heads raised in the face of female and societal rejection. The marketplace is a little more crowded this time around with bands like Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco, but Jimmy Eat World have a sincerity that their competition lacks, and that will likely keep them around as long as there are teenaged romances.
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