Jimmy ‘chases’ boring light
Jimmy Eat World’s “Chase This Light” is not exactly bad. It’s far too inoffensive to be so.It’s just unremarkable emo.
The good news is the sleep-inducing epics of 2004’s “Futures” aren’t here. Short pop-punk songs take up the majority of the record. This makes the album initially feel like a sequel to 2001’s “Bleed American,” which gave them their first hit ,“The Middle,” with its cliché but enjoyable “be yourself” sentiment.
Unlike that record, though, the songs here are mostly bland exercises in a genre Jimmy Eat World mastered years ago. Opener “Big Casino” embodies this problem. It’s all the sound, fury and big hooks of previous releases, but this time around it rings boring and shallow.
Part of the problem is the one-note songwriting. Practically every song here is interchangeable not only with the other songs on the record, but past Jimmy Eat World songs. For instance, “Carry You” is a carbon-copy of “Work” from “Futures.” It’s just as tailor-made for high school proms as its predecessor and just as trite.
“Chase This Light”’s only deviation from the formula is “Gotta Be Somebody’s Blues,” which sounds like a folked-up Cure b-side in the most unfortunate way possible. It’s sad when a band’s sole attempt at expanding their sound is a musical avenue that was best left unexplored.
Fresh from streamlining Against Me!’s brand of raucous punk, Butch Vig produces “Chase This Light” within an inch of its life. Not a note is out of place, but the result sounds robotic. It sounds less like a band playing and more like ProTools playing for them.
There’s a feeling throughout the album that Jimmy Eat World has gone down this path more than once before. Their efforts on both their 1999 masterpiece “Clarity” and “Bleed American” contained astounding depth both lyrically and musically, despite the typical shortcomings of their genre.
Jimmy Eat World
CHASE THis light
Release Date:
Oct. 16
Genre:
Rock, Alternative
Grade:
C-
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