Jimmy Eat World's divided Futures

Futures, the newest album from Jimmy Eat World can be seen as almost a two-part release. Part one is Jimmy Eat World with the bass cranked up and the volume on max. The guitars are hard and driving and the choruses are oozing with pulsating bass lines. This, paired with the band’s signature off-kilter wail and sugary sweet harmonies, seems to prove that Jimmy Eat World has kept its sound but just magnified the energy behind it. These songs are immediately engrossing and are often jam-packed with hooks, pretty much assuring that the listener will be bobbing his head before the first chorus has even finished.

Part two amplifies Jimmy Eat World’s slower songs, such as the tracks on Clarity or “Cautioners” and “My Sundown” on the band’s last, self-titled album. In comparison to the tighter structures of the first set of songs, the instrumental arrangements here are more elaborate and elongated. Each song is slowly and carefully layered. The introduction to each track serves as the building point to these twisting melodies full of sweet melancholy.

The only negative part of Futures is how divided the album truly feels. The mood changes abruptly from rocking to sniffling halfway through and never looks back. Musically, the album seems more like two starkly different styles rubbing against each other than one cohesive release. Lyrically though, Futures is a very tight album, delving into varying reactions to pain from the all-out seething anger of the appropriately titled first single “Pain” to the passive-aggressive resentment of “Just Tonight” or the depressive melancholy of “Polaris.”

Overall though, this album is a definite must-have for rock fans and one of the top releases of the year. Jimmy Eat World still creates some of the strongest instrumental bridges with guitars that quickly crescendo and drumming that experiments with various start-and-stop pace changes.

Jim Adkins’ voice is crackling with emotions and the lyrics, though still discussing experiences that are somewhat reminiscent of high-school trysts, are nonetheless universally poignant and hang in the air long after the last note has been sung.