Clarity
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| Find the album at the bottom of this page and listen along! |
Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm a sucker for a good emotional hardcore album. Of course, listening to the first track of this album, you might think I'm insane for throwing the word "hardcore" anywhere near Jimmy Eat World. And yet, that's the genre this album lives in. As the genre of emo grew broader, Jimmy Eat World's "Clarity" became a touchstone of the genre, blending the power-pop/pop-punk of the mid-late 90s with lyrics akin to the emo bands that came before them. This album was another one that I found at the age of fourteen and it's still one of my absolute favorites. Its versatility and production help it to stand the test of time in a genre that lives in it.
Jimmy Eat World was formed in 1993 in the town of Mesa, Arizona. Jim Adkins, Tom Linton, Zach Lind and Mitch Porter came together to record a debut album that has been since lost to time (and according to some fans, for the better) and Porter left the group soon after. Rick Burch replaced Porter and the lineup has been the same since. Jimmy Eat World was signed to Capitol Records in a flurry of labels trying to capitalize on the popularity of Green Day, who had just released "Dookie". Jimmy Eat World released "Static Prevails" to lackluster sales, and the members of Jimmy Eat World could tell they would soon be dropped from the label. Instead of despairing, they decided to utilize all the resources Capital would give them for their next album and get as inventive as they wanted, knowing they had nothing to lose. They were right in the end; "Clarity" would be the last album Jimmy Eat World would release on Capital Records. However, what we were given in that time was one of the best albums of 1999.
Jim Adkins, the lead singer of Jimmy Eat World, would later say that he had no idea how this album got categorized as emo, stating that it was nothing like the music that they had known as emo in their youth. Yet in emo this album remains. If I had to wager a guess on why this album is often said to be an emo touchstone album, it would be for the lyrics. There's no logical reason why Jimmy Eat World and Sunny Day Real Estate would get categorized into the same genre on instrumentation alone but seeing the lyrics "Where do you intend to go/With your dirty dress?/Lead my skeptic sight/To the table and the light" next to "The tide breaks, a wave of fear/And brave songs disappear/To the secret voice of dawn/This last time raise my eyes" the lines start to blur a little. The style of lyrics feels more indicative of emo, and therefore Jimmy Eat World's shows would always feel like the basement ones they played to start their career.
The songs on this album are all over the place, and not in a bad way. The mix of ballads, rockers, power-pop and epics just make this album versatile, an album you could truly put on in any mood. Yet even as the songs range from the loud to the quiet, the listener always feels intimately connected to Adkins as he sings his heart out. This isn't a stadium album, this is an album you reflect on with close friends in your basement at night. And it captures that feeling perfectly.
The album opens with a personal favorite, "Table for Glasses." The song is slow and the harmonies tell you what to expect right away. The song creates a soundscape in your mind that will permeate the rest of the listening experience. "Lucky Denver Mint" is the sole single from this album and its for good reason. It's probably the most radio-friendly song on the album and is a perfect pop-rock song with pounding drums setting the mood. The lyrics "You're not bigger than this/not better/why can't you learn?" encapsulate the whole album's vibe.
The album starts getting a little more inventive in its next two songs. "Your New Aesthetic" is a rocker about conforming to others expectations. "Believe In What You Want" details how Jimmy Eat World felt their record label was treating them, solely for the money with the band members asking themselves if this is what they wanted. The two songs tell of the dangers of conforming, and to make sure to maintain your individuality.
The album slows down again with the song "A Sunday" about losing hope once the haze of toxicity wears off. The next song, "Crush", returns to pop-rock and tells of the singer living with regrets and settling for less, in a rather upbeat manner so as to not reveal its intentions until the last lyrics, a genius move as you don't often regret something until afterwards. "12.23.95" has only one verse that repeats before settling on "Merry Christmas" as its closer. It's a song of missing someone on the holidays and apologies that can't be said. What's interesting about this song though is that its the most electronic of the bunch. It's just one of the reasons why this album is easily Jimmy Eat World's most experimental work.
"Ten" speeds the album back up though not by much. The lyrics are wistful, thinking on someone else but trying not to blame them for whatever happened. There's no greater one-two punch in Jimmy Eat World's catalog than "Just Watch the Fireworks" and "For Me This is Heaven". The latter is one of my favorite songs by this band and the former provides a perfect set up. "Just Watch the Fireworks" features string instruments of the violin and the viola that make the instrumentals even more enjoyable with the guitar and drums. One could argue the song's meaning is that of a friend attempting to help their friend with addiction and they lyric "You can be anything/anything that scares you/and I think that scares you" stands out to me especially. "For Me This is Heaven" is a breakup song, a girl leaving our songwriter while the singer asks their ex if they can still feel butterflies even as their relationship runs out of time.
"Blister" and "Clarity" bring the album right back to the rock roots that Jimmy Eat World thrives in. Tom Linton, lead guitarist, steps in to sing on "Blister" and his rough voice is perfect for the alt-rock song he sings about escaping from an ex and their past. "Clarity" takes its name from the album's and Jim Adkins takes the reins back, lamenting about thinking he deserves better, but not knowing if his current relationship is the best that he'll ever get. Both of these songs get the listener rocking before the finale of the album can come around and slow it all down one final time.
"Goodbye Sky Harbor" clocks in at a whopping sixteen minutes, with thirteen of those being entirely instrumental. Some have speculated that the song is the exact length that it takes to get to maximum altitude from the Sky Harbor Airport in Arizona. While this hasn't been confirmed, the idea of listening to this song as I took off from an airport always appealed to me. Still, it's far more likely that the song is based on the book "A Prayer for Owen Meany" as the lyrics are often in reference to the novel. However, the final lyric "You are smaller/getting smaller/but I still see you" are actually about Adkin's girlfriend as he took off from Sky Harbor. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that the song is about both the novel and a love song about leaving someone for travel. The thirteen minutes that follow the end of the lyrics are minutes that you will want to hang on for. Guitar notes dictate this instrumentation with vocalization from Adkins and Linton soon joining in only to fade into a drum instrumentation to close the song out. The looping of all of these things indicates that this was another electronic experiment for the band and one that somehow works even with its length.
Overall, "Clarity" is easily one of my favorite albums. The lyrics are vague enough that you could take multiple meanings from any song for any mood. The variety and experimentation from the band garnered them a cult following even after they were dropped from their label. Twenty years later, Jimmy Eat World continues to make music yet this album is always ranked at the top of their discography, and it's easy to see why. Without this album, pop-punk and emo as a genre would be much different than it is today. And for that, we have to appreciate Jimmy Eat World.
The album starts getting a little more inventive in its next two songs. "Your New Aesthetic" is a rocker about conforming to others expectations. "Believe In What You Want" details how Jimmy Eat World felt their record label was treating them, solely for the money with the band members asking themselves if this is what they wanted. The two songs tell of the dangers of conforming, and to make sure to maintain your individuality.
The album slows down again with the song "A Sunday" about losing hope once the haze of toxicity wears off. The next song, "Crush", returns to pop-rock and tells of the singer living with regrets and settling for less, in a rather upbeat manner so as to not reveal its intentions until the last lyrics, a genius move as you don't often regret something until afterwards. "12.23.95" has only one verse that repeats before settling on "Merry Christmas" as its closer. It's a song of missing someone on the holidays and apologies that can't be said. What's interesting about this song though is that its the most electronic of the bunch. It's just one of the reasons why this album is easily Jimmy Eat World's most experimental work.
"Ten" speeds the album back up though not by much. The lyrics are wistful, thinking on someone else but trying not to blame them for whatever happened. There's no greater one-two punch in Jimmy Eat World's catalog than "Just Watch the Fireworks" and "For Me This is Heaven". The latter is one of my favorite songs by this band and the former provides a perfect set up. "Just Watch the Fireworks" features string instruments of the violin and the viola that make the instrumentals even more enjoyable with the guitar and drums. One could argue the song's meaning is that of a friend attempting to help their friend with addiction and they lyric "You can be anything/anything that scares you/and I think that scares you" stands out to me especially. "For Me This is Heaven" is a breakup song, a girl leaving our songwriter while the singer asks their ex if they can still feel butterflies even as their relationship runs out of time.
"Blister" and "Clarity" bring the album right back to the rock roots that Jimmy Eat World thrives in. Tom Linton, lead guitarist, steps in to sing on "Blister" and his rough voice is perfect for the alt-rock song he sings about escaping from an ex and their past. "Clarity" takes its name from the album's and Jim Adkins takes the reins back, lamenting about thinking he deserves better, but not knowing if his current relationship is the best that he'll ever get. Both of these songs get the listener rocking before the finale of the album can come around and slow it all down one final time.
"Goodbye Sky Harbor" clocks in at a whopping sixteen minutes, with thirteen of those being entirely instrumental. Some have speculated that the song is the exact length that it takes to get to maximum altitude from the Sky Harbor Airport in Arizona. While this hasn't been confirmed, the idea of listening to this song as I took off from an airport always appealed to me. Still, it's far more likely that the song is based on the book "A Prayer for Owen Meany" as the lyrics are often in reference to the novel. However, the final lyric "You are smaller/getting smaller/but I still see you" are actually about Adkin's girlfriend as he took off from Sky Harbor. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that the song is about both the novel and a love song about leaving someone for travel. The thirteen minutes that follow the end of the lyrics are minutes that you will want to hang on for. Guitar notes dictate this instrumentation with vocalization from Adkins and Linton soon joining in only to fade into a drum instrumentation to close the song out. The looping of all of these things indicates that this was another electronic experiment for the band and one that somehow works even with its length.
Overall, "Clarity" is easily one of my favorite albums. The lyrics are vague enough that you could take multiple meanings from any song for any mood. The variety and experimentation from the band garnered them a cult following even after they were dropped from their label. Twenty years later, Jimmy Eat World continues to make music yet this album is always ranked at the top of their discography, and it's easy to see why. Without this album, pop-punk and emo as a genre would be much different than it is today. And for that, we have to appreciate Jimmy Eat World.
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