JIMMY EAT WORLD

First off, Id like to know, if Jimmy Eat World regret having called their record that: “bleed american” since more patriotic and more simple-minded thinkers (which usually goes together, see GW Bush) could construe some misconception on what the band wanted to say. It is easy to know, that there is no connection from Jimmy Eat Word to the political arena, neither global nor local. The band was always more interested in the personal, emotional sphere of their listeners. That is what made them famous among the young generation, who felt understood in their emotional needs and desires, and also among older listeners who could enjoy a silent afternoon staring out the window and wallowing in their own self-pity and melancholia. No, I ‘m not putting that down. Daydreaming is a very good thing. I have lived through a lot of adventures and experiences without ever getting of my couch. And with perfect melodies, as in “The middle”, that is easy to do. With their second album Jimmy Eat world will further cement their status.

What I mean is: a refrain like the one in “Your house” would be perfect charts-material, but Jimmy Eat World are still steps away from that. I am not sure, that they want to go that way, we will see, but potential is there. There is the perfect two-voiced-singing, and I mean double-harmonies not some sing/scream-duet by two singers. I mean “Pet Sounds”. I mean pure beauty. Here it is the singer of The Promise Ring joining in, which fits perfectly, since they should share the same audience a lot. Mention Jets to Brazil as well and you should be on the same side.

The funniest thing about the record is the way the cover at least a dozen of american popsongs, which have so much entered the cultural history and consciousness of western civilization, that most people won’t recognise it anymore. From “Crimson and clover” to a dozen other songs, you will constantly hear some of your favorite songs in here, without knowing what has hit you. No, this is not copying,

Actually, it is quite daring, to wallow so much in your own emotions, to lay them out so bluntly yet so beautifully for all to see. And then to add the one-finger-electric-piano-accompaniment as if it were still the Sixties. The record starts off with some more energetic, happy songs, and then tends to get slower and more, well, emo. The themes stay the same, though: problems and thinking about problems. Past and current problems. All of them personal. And all of them clothed in wonderful and enlightening melodies. A first highlight of pure melancholia and maybe the song to start a whole series of “love-songs emo-style” is “Hear you me”. Acoustic guitars, female backing vocals, dynamic arrangement and a refrain to make stones start crying. A bigger band (i.e. one with a bigger budget) would have added an orchestra of strings and stuff, but not Jimmy Eat World.

Do they want to stay small? Maybe they don’t want to lose themselves in something that they ain’t. But who are we to say. I sure hope we won’t lose them. Maybe, in some years they will have turned into the Eagles or into some other clone. But right now, they produce the most beautiful records around, and that is just the way it should be.