måndag 29 Okt 2007, 18:55

I've got a bunch of new albums lately so I thought I'd write a little about each. For today, Jimmy Eat World's latest album, Chase this light (for which there seems to be no entry in Last.fm).

I got into Jimmy Eat World with the release of their single Bleed American and have only heard that album and Futures. I hear that Clarity is their best, but have yet to get it.

My first impression was that despite some strong opening tracks, Big Casino and the catchy singing laughter in Let it happen (difficult to explain, but it sounds good), the album as a whole came off a little bland. Their previous albums seemed to be, for lack of better words, more raw and edgy, whereas here they seemed to have softened up and gone in a more poppy direction.

Along with the opening tracks, I particularly liked Gotta be somebody's blues, but it's slow, meandering pace and use of strings results in a haunting ballad that feels out of place with the rest of the tracks on the album, which are generally at a much faster pace. I also thought the album ended well with the closing track Be sensitive.

The rest of the album, while pleasant, just doesn't seem to grab. Even the title track Chase this light while decent, is not memorable in any particular sense.

Don't get me wrong, I like the album, and I've been listening to it quite a lot. It just feels like they could have done so much better, and I've come to expect good things from them. Of the three albums I've heard, Chase this light is the weakest by a fair margin.

3/5