EMO = Everyone Must grow Older? Jimmy Eat World grow up... (Chase This Light - Jimmy Eat World)

Member Name: edinburgher

Product:	Chase This Light - Jimmy Eat World
Date:	01/05/09 (193 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A slow burning alternative rock album from a group who seem a little short on direction

Disadvantages: Some tracks are a little hit and miss

For a band thirteen years and six studio albums into their career, it's often frustrating to read reviews for Jimmy Eat World where the reviewers are obviously expecting a rehash of the tropes of the 'Emo' genre, with broken hearts, angst, substance abuse and 'scene' predominating.

Having grown up before groups who could pen a thoughtful album of alternative rock were labelled as quickly as they are nowadays, I found Chase this Light to be an enjoyable listen from a band who have definitely matured without losing their song writing and musical talent. Literally one of the groups that I grew up with, I first heard a Jimmy Eat World song in 1999 and I'm still listening to them aged 26.. So, instead of worrying too much about genre pigeon holes, I'm happy to review this album as a 'straight' rock record in an attempt to avoid the mistake of just comparing it to whatever is new and hip.

The more measured strains on the album will appeal to fans of Taking back Sunday, Saves the Day, Weezer and other alternative rock acts who've been around over the last decade or so. Don't expect screaming, a shoe box full of digital special effects or floppy fringes here.

*Relative success?*

Chase this light reached #5 in the US top 100 albums, but only managed to hit #27 in the UK album chart - somewhat lower than the #22 slot achieved by Futures, the studio album that preceded this. The three years between these albums seems to have mellowed the group and a lot of the nervous foreboding that seemed so at home in Futures has been replaced with a lot more introspection on Chase this Light.

The group toured off the back of the release of Chase this Light and from my recollection ticket sales were fairly healthy. A live album based on this tour was released last year, a sure fire sign of the moneygrubbery associated with major label success?

*Stop. Go politics on an album?*

Stop-go politics refers to cyclical periods of economic expansion and deflation. Chase this Light feels a lot like this at times, with booming rock numbers that get the heart pounding making way for weaker songs, ironic numbers and slightly abstract lyrics.

When a band have had, perhaps, three or more releases I believe that it's ok to focus on reviewing their musical talents less and to focus on the song writing instead. Musically, everything is as it should be on this record, with drum tracks timed to perfection, reliable guitar backing and some soaring strings that help to provide some tracks with a more epic feel than is customary for Jimmy Eat World.

I believe that this a very good album all in all, but that fans will be justifiably confused with the slightly more experimental range of sounds present. On the plus side, I feel that we get to see the band's influences coming through a lot more strongly than is typically the case. Many of the tracks sound more detached and more thought out, without the barrage of emotional baggage that I've come to expect from the boys.

*Highlights*

This is my first review where I'm commenting a little more on song interpretations - be sure and let me know if I'm awful!

Big Casino - A confident opener, with catchy lyrics and enough energy to drive you to the dance floor. Lines such as 'play my little part in something big' juxtapose neatly with contrasting ideas such as 'rock on young saviour - don't give up your hopes' to show a group that seems to be struggling with their success just a little. While it's a good enough radio rock song, the tension between accepting fame and being modest seems somewhat unresolved here.

Let it Happen - I enjoyed the repeated chorus on this one, as it's enjoyable to join in with and reinforces the central message of the song. The pithy, 'talk talking a lot, but it's still talk' speaks volumes for divergence of opinions in general and leaves a slightly bitter taste in the mouth. Sometimes talking isn't enough to resolve a situation, no matter how frequent. There is also a pretty female vocal that breaks into the chorus at a couple of points, which gives it an added poignancy.

Always Be - Something of a stand out track for me on Chase this Light, Always Be has an almost eerie clarity and beautiful lyrics that encapsulate ideas superbly. Lines such as 'how are you going to know the feeling until you've lost it' are whimsical and melancholy and show a particularly adult way of responding to love and loss. The song sounds like The Great Gatsby reads, with a dream world and a girl which are largely symbolic and can never be attained, despite how hard we strive.. In addition to the lyrics, this song is a treat to listen to thanks to the occasional bit of electronic footling in the background, which has a somewhat silly 'Pet Shop Boys at a party' feel to it - surprisingly uplifting, decidedly cheesy.

Electable (Give it Up) -A song which is overtly political, but no doubt a song that could have a range of meanings, rails against talking for its own sake, rhetoric and fakery, with lyrics such as 'talking points from talking heads with automated smiles - there's no higher place to stand than bottom of the pile'. Yelled lines such as 'not in my name' seem to hark back to anti war arguments, but they could so easily refer to concepts such as thinking for ourselves and not believing everything we're told. An important lesson.

Gotta be Somebody's Blues - Previous reviews of this track that I have read are quick to tear into this downbeat number and I have to admit that I didn't love it on first listening. But it's definitely a grower and sounds like a healthy mash up of the Verve, the Smashing Pumpkins and maybe a little Nirvana around the edges.

The lyrics don't make a whole lot of sense and seem divided between declaring devotion to a woman 'let the factories rust, she's the only one I trust' and sections along the lines of 'Where you gonna go if they come for you? Will there be someone left to sing your blues?' seem a lot harder to pin a meaning on.

To me, this song sounds like a warning against apathy and lyrics such as 'You can say I do nothing, yeah - I put it off' would seem to support this. The previously noted line on 'where you gonna go' struck me as having some similarities to the lines often attributed to pastor Martin Niemollor (see Wikipedia!):

"In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up."

I've lifted this section verbatim, but I should be considerably over the 150 words already ;-) I was very much left feeling that this song could reasonably be described as warning listeners that sometimes doing nothing is worst of all..

I don't mean to imply that the song is overly politicised - while the lines I quoted from Niemollor related to Nazi persecution in Germany, the song doesn't necessarily refer to political apathy. Apathy can have a detrimental effect on lives at a far more prosaic level than politics and I'm left with the feeling that we're being told to take charge of our lives and not let our relationships slip away from us..

Here it goes - Not a highlight, but deserves a mention as an oddity. This track is either the worst 3:23 of nonsense Jimmy Eat World have ever released, or a slightly ironic dig at the concept of scene and modern infatuation with being popular. It sounds like what songs from Highschool Musical might sound like if they were written by a sarcastic, disillusioned hack! Frankly ridiculous yrics such as 'looking for attention, I'm not - cut it to the left and I rock' have to be a joke, right? Sounds preppy, somewhat confrontational and I'm really not sure what to make of it...

Chase this Light - A sweet little song (fluffy puppy sweet, not Eric Cartman sweet), which re-visits the idea of chasing a distant goal or dream. Worth listening to, but I feel that the previously mentioned 'Always Be' does it better.

Be Sensible - One of the longer tracks on the album, weighing in at 5:06, with each of them a soulful experience. The title is somewhat contrary, as the song is about not settling into a groove and making sure that you do your best. There's a real sense of carpe diem sentiment here and by the end of the song you're left with a hopeful feeling that it's not too late, we can still make a difference, there's life in the old dog yet, etc. etc.

'Don't get comfortable, don't be sensible, swing with all you have' are words to live by and a good ending to an album in which one of my favourite groups have wrestled admirably with love, politics, hope and disaffection.

Summary: Jimmy Eat World lay down a solid album which is more mature than previous releases and lacks urgency