Jimmy Eat World - 'Futures' (Interscope)
4/5
By: Matt Tomiak
Some tracks on futures: 'Kill.' 'Pain.' 'Shame.' No prizes for correctly categorizing Jimmy Eat World as 'emo' then. The clean-cut, heart-on-sleeve Arizona boys who hit it big back in '01 with their eponymous third album continue to lay themselves bare (with tunes to spare) on their fourth LP.
Granted, most of these songs could potentially be used to soundtrack the 'touching' closing moments on 'The OC'. But significantly, most of 'em also rock...perennial adolescence never sounded so good.
Instances such as Jim Adkins hammering the home bleedin' obvious, i.e. 'Polaris' - 'I've always been afraid' - could grate in lesser hands. Jimmy Eat World might still have plenty to get off their collective chests, but with the hooks coming heavy and fast and the lyrics never veering into mawkish self-pity, 'Futures' stays genuine, heartfelt and ballsy - in a manner reminiscent of Feeder's 'Comfort in Sound'.
Unlike its predecessor too, which counted 'The Middle' and 'Sweetness' in its ranks, 'Futures' doesn't contain any immediate, upbeat pop singles, save perhaps Prom Night-soundtracking 'Work'. But with Gil Norton of Pixies, Foo Fighters and, er, Feeder-production fame at the helm providing a warm, polished sheen and the occasional non sequitur (see: the Dave Grohl meets Rufus Wainwright lament 'Drugs Or Me'), 'Futures' is nevertheless an accessible, accomplished 21st century rock record.
And even if the high-school/college-aged lyrical themes persist, 'Futures' contains the honed, ripened sound of a band reaching musical maturity after a decade in the biz.
Artists in this article: Jimmy Eat World
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