swing with all you have, a revisiting of chase this light.
In 2007, a band I have written much about released a record called Chase This Light, that band being Jimmy Eat World. The first single was Big Casino and the Japanese release, as per the usual, held multiple gems that apparently Americans were incapable of appreciating. Well, I intend to dispel such silly things, and welcome you all to the free world, at least with this record. You may have wondered, when listening to this album, where was Jim’s “Table For Glasses”? Where was his heartbreaking scream accompanied with a weak, thin acoustic guitar, per his signature style, using his voice, instead of a 3 mile wide guitar to get his point across. This is Mr. Adkin’s most powerful musical style, his One Inch Punch as it were (Is a Bruce Lee citing to obscure?).
Well it was there- just not in the American release- called “Be Sensible” as in, don’t be. There was also “Beautiful Is” Jim’s homage to Immi’s rather wonderful Hide & Seek and just as intimate a vocal. My favorite of all of these b-sides (a severe maligning and unforgivable misnomer), is “Open Bar Reception”, a heartbreaking story about a rented tuxedo and a marriage that will be just as temporary. So with all this formality and proper format well established, what is it about this record that, after nearly 4 years of being out there and breathing, requires yet another review?
Well, it’s just simply that good, arguably it’s their most powerful record. It seems to have it all: the clear vision that Static Prevails did not have, yet the most punk guitar they’ve done since Static. There remains the astoundingly clear and intimate feel that Clarity has but an edge that is tactile and gorgeous in it’s deep dark hits and screaming guitar. This is the record wih the most midrange, the hardest hitting, by far their fastest feeling and most aggressive. But each song has some of the band’s most delicate riff work; where many of Jim’s most memorable guitar solo’s revolve around his rockabilly leanings (i.e. “the middle”), this record has defined stringed riffs, arpeggios and really rhythmic, syncopated guitar work, locked in time with the drums. This of course, is partially due to a band that’s been together since the mid 90’s and know how to play well together. They are rather talented musicians at this point and can be readily referred to as a well established band.
But it must also be mentioned that Butch Vig is the producer for the record, and though the era of superstar producers is long over, Butch is still a profound voice in modern production and has reinvented what a wall of sound truly can be. But Butch Vig is also a drummer and an avid fan of seeing just how big a guitar can be. Butch experimented heavily with production as enhancement in his project, Garbage, to wonderful effect (their Version 2.0 being top 5 of the 90’s and still listened to). But in this more recent meeting of giants, both Jimmy Eat World and Master Vig, I believe Butch may have managed a bit of an opus to the sound he’d never quite been able to create when attempting to push Garbage further and further to his most ideal concept. Maybe it was that this band was truly ready to build something rigid, structured and brilliantly multifaceted. Listen for the gorgeous strings, the grand piano that is all low end (beethoven would be proud Mr. Vig), the delayed bits of noise and guitar after effects, but mostly the strings. Butch has been cheating for years; taking a single string instrument, say viola or violin and carefully, cruelly tweaking it, turning that one lonely bow into a mile long orchestra, quite capable of enveloping the entire stereo field. He controls this band’s two destructive guitars, distorted to harmonically perfect ends, lets the backbeat really breath and show its colours (something quite a few other rock producers could try here and there) and then Jim just hits it home, with his raw session vocals tinged with a bit of teen angst, that thankfully he has never let go of. It must also be admitted that Jim Adkins and the whole of Jimmy Eat World are brilliant songwriters, with a dry wit and a thorough ability to really put pen to paper and communicate loneliness, or wanting, or whatever emotion they feel the need to. There is no subtlety with this band, there are no small moves, no trifling with pawns, they are always just out for the queen.
Though there is no one Jimmy Eat World record I can say is their definitive best or my singular favorite, I can say this is their most technically beautifully record and possibly the most well imagined in terms of stand alone songs. This however does come with one caveat: get the Japanese Special Edition, else you’re being wildly short changed in terms of track to track flow and the tracks sadly missing from the American release.
2 in a week? Absolutely shocking.
_backchat.
