The Morning After

Nostalgia. The yearning for the past… a popular theme with many of my favourite 90s and early Oughts rockers.

We all get old, and we all start thinking about the olden days.  The beer was colder and cheaper.  The days longer. The breasts were all firmer.  The good ole’days.

I have noticed with so many records right now, songs that try to go back and capture old emotions or ideas.

Jimmy Eat World‘s 7th studio record, Invented, is full of nostalgia.  One of my favourite songs on the new record is “Coffee and Cigarettes.”  JEW is not the first band to sing about these two vices that make your breath stink and (could) kill you… but they have mined the territory again in search of youth.

Its hard to write a critical review of Jimmy Eat World’s music for me, because I generally love all their music.  I think ion the pantheon of all their records… so far I’d give this record a pass.  With repeat listens, it might end up being a fave.

I remember in 2007 when Chase This Light came out.  At first I wasn’t into it… but given time, I lean on that record before I’ll punch up Futures or Bleed American.

I thought this was neat.  As I trolled my JEW music on the laptop… all their recent record have a title track.  For example, in Invented, there is a song called “Invented.”  Chase this Light has a song called “Chase This Light.”

But their first two record, Jimmy Eat World and Static Prevails… no such song.

During my first listen today, while waiting for Mads to get out of Step Up To Pre-School, the three songs I gravitated to right away were the three I have heard the most.

People always say to me, “why do radio stations keep playing the same songs over?”

Because people like the songs they know.  I am aware of the science behind it… and still it works on me.  I enjoyed the radio single, “My Best Theory,” Chase This Light second chancer “Stop” and “Movielike.”  I had been jamming those songs out on repeat for awhile when I found them online.

Lots of romance on this record, I also really liked “Littlething.”

If you’re a Jimmy Eat World fan, there should be something you can grab onto right away and I think enough depth to give you satisfaction with repeat listens.

Go with yourself.

PS >> I’ve had impure thoughts about the model on the cover of the record.