Jimmy Eat World
Futures
On Sale Now
For $13.98

I think my immense adoration for Jimmy Eat World might’ve been a fluke. Upon hearing their previous breakthrough self-titled smash, I was literally taken aback. I was aware of its cheese-pop sensibilities armored with creamy choruses that went down smooth and tastefully. In a way, it was a rebellious record in its on-the-surface approach to songwriting. Nothing too deep of course, it was just good clean fun with memorable songs about breaking up, breaking down, and feeling out of place. But honestly, I haven’t felt the need to go back to it in about a year. I’ve grown out of the trademark drop-D punk pop rock sound, and seeing their mediocre live performance didn’t help, in which they deprived me of their indelible backup harmonies that initially endeared me to them. I discovered the record before that, Clarity, shortly thereafter, and I go back to it constantly. It’s mope-and-sulk emo, but it’s coherent and engaging, with a tight rhythm section. The songs off of that record have yet to vacate my skill.

The same will never be said of Futures. If the cliché, “in one ear, out the other” was ever more apt, then it’s here, and I went in with no preconceived notions being a part-time fan. The buzz around the critic campfire was that the band had gone back to their roots, and decided to be “darker.” Well, it’s almost forcefully mediocre and not the least bit convincing to the point of complete and utter ennui. There’s the occasional bout of buoyant pop-punk upsurge (“Pain”) that’s tempered with more mood. The whisper-to-a-sigh ballads are damn-near non-existent as evidenced by a track like “Drugs or Me,” which does nothing but regurgitates bland lyrics and offers no sense of release. They should’ve taken a hint from a song like the title track off of Death Cab For Cutie’s Transatlanticism if they wanted to hear the best way to expand their track length. The band is still elevated above a lot of radio-friendly unit shifters by massaging solid melody with calming vocal harmonies courtesy of Jim Adkins and Tom Linton. But with its upsides are weighed down by horrendous lyrics like “Do you feel bad like I feel bad?” and "Baby, this is who I am/ Sorry, but I can't just go turn off how I feel.” I feel bad listening to a band grow more mundane and stoic and apologies aside, it’s hard to turn off how disappointed I am. “The World I Love” in which he aptly expresses that he’s “in love with the ordinary” is a solid modern rock song that is one-part Journey, another-part Foo Fighters. But the same-song key-signature is too achingly familiar bearing similarity with “Work.” Only occasionally does Futures manage to capture the band at its strength, but it’s all been done before and better on earlier records especially the abovementioned Clarity, something they so desperately need to recover before moving on.

Copyright © 2010 ModernRock.com All Rights Reserved