Jimmy Eat World - Chase This Light

Jimmy Eat World’s 1999 album, Clarity, has become a landmark album in emo circles and has inadvertently christened the band as torchbearers of the genre (in its modern definition). I say inadvertently, because the band never really intended to be a representative of any genre, and Jimmy Eat World isn’t all that emo anymore, as evidenced by 2004’s darker Futures, and now with Chase This Light.

But even when the band did its emotional punk thing, it was a cut above the rest. These days, the vast majority of emo/pop punk put out by kids with swooped haircuts sounds derivative, contrived and cloying. Jimmy Eat World always got lumped into that scene for its heart-on-your-sleeve lyrics, but the band has consistently put out better albums and retained a sense of maturity its younger followers haven’t seemed to master. Even Bleed American, the album that thrust the band into the mainstream with singles “The Middle” and “Sweetness,” was a strong showing, other than the former single.

Aside from a couple of ballads and punky numbers, Chase This Light is more power pop than anything, especially album opener “Big Casino,” an anthem with a great hook that speeds along quickly to help you forget the uplifting-in-a-Hallmark-kind-of-way lyrics: “Get up, get up/Dance on the ceiling/Get up, get up/Boy you must be dreaming/Rock on young savior/Don't give up your hopes.” Or try a sample from “Carry You”: When I know I'm all alone/I say your name slowly/And I know that I'm alone/But I'll carry you.“ Optimistic platitudes like these are repeated throughout the album. You’ve gotta give the band credit for crafting tasty pop tunes, and the album as a whole certainly has more depth to it than, say, a Simple Plan record, but plumbing the depths won’t turn up anything that hasn’t been said before, and better. “Electable (Give It Up)” delves into vague political territory, a call to action for us to embrace independence and voice dissent. It’s an earnest plea, but it evokes high-school freshman poetry.

For Chase This Light, Jimmy Eat World enlisted the help of producer and Garbage drummer Butch Vig, who’s responsible for classics such as Nirvana’s Nevermind and the Smashing Pumpkins’ Gish. Vig is usually lauded for refining and repackaging Nirvana’s raw sound, but on this record he goes a little overboard. The whole thing is entirely overproduced--no stray notes anywhere and no surprises. Digital hand claps abound, as do glam-metal-style shouts of “Hey!” Oh Oh!” and “Ahhh!” There are lots of layered, distorted guitars, but no guitars that sound rough or dirty. The high-gloss sheen gives it a pretty sterile sound.

Chase This Light probably should have been released four months ago--it has a distinct bright, summery feel. So if you’re in the mood for cruising along to some catchy sunroof rock on an abnormally warm fall day, the new Jimmy Eat World ain’t a bad option. Just don’t listen too closely.