There’s Still Hope Between the Dreams

Jack Johnson may be the most unlikely multiplatinum artist this decade. He hasn’t had a radio hit with only the Curious George assisted Upside Down cracking the Top 40. He rarely cares enough to film videos with only two Ben Stiller assisted ones that were not performance based one. You can tell he would rather be surfing or strumming the guitar than be part of the machine of endless self promotion which leads to many people like my sister to have never heard of his name. What makes things worse is that everyone should know two Jack Johnsons and she knows none.

But despite the low Q-Rating from my sister and others who don’t know artists that do not get played on the radio, each of Jack Johnson’s albums have sold over a million copies. And there is no reason his latest Sleep Through the Static won’t do the same. The album is of note in that it was recorded exclusively on solar power, the first of which Johnson recorded outside of his home state of Hawaii.

If you are familiar with Johnson, you know what you are getting on the album, mellow, campfire melodies and sing-a-longs with a minimalist approach to most songs. There in lies the disappointment for the album. That was the basic formula for his debut, but he was able to expound on that mellow vibe with weird and odd mini songs sometimes in French. But for the most part the risks are gone on Static unless you listen really carefully. But even his songs from the Curious George Soundtrack took more chances.

That is not to say the album isn’t serviceable in an if it is not broke don’t fix it kind of way. There is a maturity that wasn’t on the first album and has been building ever since. Gone are songs about pancakes and toes. He takes on the current administration and their war plans on the title track.

The most adventurous song on the album, If I Had Eyes, is a playful tune and sounds exactly like what you would expect from someone who has a couple more miles under his feet after writing Bubble Toes. But Johnson excels when ever he slows and strips it down on songs like Enemy, What You Thought You Need, and Go On. Songs where you just want to cuddle up with someone on the beach at night next a bonfire when listening to.

Song to Download - What You Thought You Need

Sleep Through the Static gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.