It might be hard to believe, but Jimmy Eat World has been playing around the traps for 20 years now, with the band now on to album number eight. Recorded live in Alain Johannes’ home, vocalist Jim Adkins has said the focus of the album was more on performance than making it perfect and pristine. More ‘raw’. When you think raw, you think unpolished, little imperfections and a warm feel, but that hasn’t entirely shone through on Damage – it still sounds pretty polished and slick.
The live quality does come through on songs like ‘Please Say No’, a stripped back acoustic piece. Adkins’ voice sounds soft and buttery, with the harmonies layered in all the right places. It’s on songs like this where you hear that little falter in Adkins’ voice, giving songs a vulnerable quality. This song is perfect Jimmy Eat World – it has depth without smothering the song with too much going on.
While Invented, the band’s previous album, saw the band throw in more pretty pop sensibilities like strings and hand claps, Damage sees the band flash back to their more traditional roots with sporting-type anthems and strong guitar lines. But there’s less of an edge to Adkins’ vocals this time around.
The single ‘I Will Steal You Back’ is typical Jimmy Eat World – a pop rock anthem full of harmonies, a dash of angst and that wonderful half second pause that Jimmy Eat World does so well just before Adkins launches into the chorus. The other single from the album, ‘Damage’, is about two lost souls trying to connect. While the lyrics aren’t earth shattering (let’s face it, Jimmy Eat World isn’t Charles Bukowski), the chorus is catchy and the band mixes it up with some slower and faster elements.
There are some decent songs on Damage. ‘Book of Love’ is a lovely up-tempo piece about being afraid to confront the truth about a dying relationship. ‘No Never’ sees the band back in their traditional Jimmy Eat World structure – poppy verses that explode into guitars and angsty vocals. Closing song ‘You Were Good’ is one of the poorer songs on the album – it’s flat and goes nowhere.
Damage seems to hovers on mediocrity the first few times you listen to it. But like some of the other Jimmy Eat World albums, the songs grow on you the more you listen to them. Eventually you’ll reach a point where you realise ‘shit, this album has some great songs!’ Jimmy Eat World has persisted over the years, so be patient and it’ll pay off.
7/10
Reviewer: Stephanie McDonald
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htSxryXYqEw