'Chase This Light' disappoints

By Joey Vergara

Published Oct. 16, 2007

Every Jimmy Eat World fan will at some point in the band's lifetime experience a moment where the music loses all its credibility.

The old guard felt it as early as Bleed American and the commercial success of singles such as "The Middle." 2004's in-your-face Futures could only polarize the remaining faithful.

For me, and presumably many others, it is the band's new album, Chase This Light, that ultimately lets listeners down.

"Big Casino" tears Chase This Light open like the opening tracks on JEW's past two releases, but therein lies the problem. It is easily the high point on the record and also sets the tone for the entire record — loud, fast, emphatic — but from there, everything is downhill.

Singer/guitarist Jim Adkin's impatient songwriting has always been one of the band's strengths, but when it is overused like it is on Chase This Light, the results are just

underwhelming.

Gone are the beautiful respites from the intensity like "Hear You Me" (easily one of the saddest songs ever written) and "Goodbye Sky Harbor" (the 16-minute loop-ridden closer on Clarity). Instead, JEW bashes listeners over the head and nails its own coffin shut with overbearing rock anthems like "Feeling Lucky" and "Firefight."

Chase This Light is mostly a lot of the same old tricks from previous albums being played over and over but without the greatness of yesteryear. Female harmonies? Check — "Let It Happen." Acoustic guitar breakdowns? Check — "Carry You." The big hooks are missing, and with them, Jimmy Eat World's relevance.

It figures that when JEW actually tries something unexpected, the results are a letdown.

The unbelievably moody "Gotta Be Somebody's Blues" is incredibly out of place among all the fast-paced, distortion-soaked songs. Beyond that, it is just a bizarre song: "Let the water come/She's the only one I love/Let the fat man draw/She's the sweetest honey pot." Channeling The Cure so heavily is a terrible idea for a pop-rock band like Jimmy Eat World.

Every now and again, some semblance of JEW's previous greatness does manage to peek through Chase This Light. The overtly political "Electable (Give It Up)," in all its three-minute long glory, is fun in a simple rock 'n' roll sort of way.

The one consistent upside about Chase This Light is Adkins' voice. Unrestrained with anger ("Electable") or charming ("Big Casino"), it is always in good form.

At the risk of hyperbole, good bands that get stuck in a creative rut are one of life's biggest disappointments. You want them to do so much but essentially get nothing new.

It is very hard to dislike Jimmy Eat World, a band with an incredible catalogue of earnest, exciting songs. But with the increasingly unimaginative albums it has released in the last few years, it is almost inevitable that feelings will change.