Jimmy Eat World - Futures (Review: Alex)

I've Listened to two Jimmy Eat World albums previous to this one: Bleed American and Chase This Light (purely for their respective singles, somewhat shamefully). Whereas I was very impressed by Bleed American, my opinion on Chase This Light was that it didn't live up to quite the same standard. I was, therefore, interested to see what I would think of Futures.

Having read Dan's review before listening to the album, the opening track provoked thoughts that my review would end up going in much the same direction. The guitar riff to 'Futures', I thought, was pretty awful. In fact, I didn't really enjoy much of this track on first listening. It's the sort of thing which I'm sure I could have written myself, and I'm Not even close to being in a globally successful band.

However, 'Just Tonight', by total contrast, is a great song. It's catchy (especially in the chorus, which is always important), and something about it shows me a new side to Jimmy Eat World which I can't exactly place. Had I the authority to do so, I would certainly have chosen this as the opening track.

I'm in danger of going through the album track by track, but 'Work' is one of the best things I have heard Jimmy Eat World do. In fact, I've never noticed a Jimmy Eat world album in which the band moves so freely and easily into drop tunings. The album, and this song in particular, shows me something new, dark and interesting about the band which I have never noticed before. It reminds me a lot of 'Hear You Me' from Bleed American, but offers so much more.

From the second track onwards, this album moved up and up in my perception. They offer something soothing, but paradoxically with a lot of 'grunt' (much as I hate that word, it's the most fitting one). It's subtle and simple, but throughout there is an underlying feeling that there is something more. I get this sense most while listening to 'The World You Love'; something that I just can't place. This is a very clever trick to have pulled off and is a testament to the band's songwriting, if not technical, talent.

I'm not sure how they managed it, but with Futures, Jimmy Eat World managed to pull off something ever so slightly different. I think this easily deserves a 3.5/5, though I feel I really should be giving it more.