Album Reviews

Album number seven sees Jimmy Eat World teaming up again with producer Mark Trombino, the man behind “Bleed American” and “Clarity”, without a doubt the band’s best albums to date. It’s a good thing because listening to Jimmy Eat World became a bit too easy with their last two albums.

Opener “Heart Is Hard To Find” shows Jimmy Eat World from a restrained perspective with a song that’s about to burst wide open any second. They save that for “My Best Theory” though. It’s a song that doesn’t as much knock on the door rather than kick the damn thing wide open. The same can be said for “Action Needs An Audience”... I want more of that! But since this is still Jimmy Eat World we’re talking about, there are always the emotional ballads to deal with as well. There’s the title song for example which comes with some hauntingly beautiful backing vocals courtesy of Courtney Marie Andrews, a singer-songwriter from Phoenix, AZ who also helps out on four other songs here. And then there are songs like “Higher Devotion” and “Movielike”, which are mellow and determined at the same time.

On “Invented”, the guys in Jimmy Eat World make it clear that they are still able to pull your heart strings effortlessly before making you jump around the room as they kick out the jams. I guess it makes them excellent puppeteers who have released an album that works wonders when it’s dark, wet and cold outside.