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Jack Johnson
Sleep through the Static
(Brushfire)
First Appeared in The Music Box, February 2008, Volume 15, #2
Written by John Metzger
Tue February 19, 2008, 10:00 AM CST
Fatherhood has a way of changing a person’s perspective on life. So does the
untimely death of a young relative. Even Jack Johnson, the
pro-surfer-turned-pop-star, isn’t immune to the cataclysmic paradigm shifts that
such major events typically bring. Since issuing his debut Brushfire
Fairytales in 2001, Johnson consistently has demonstrated his knack for
pulling terrific melodies out of thin air. Yet, his arrangements and his lyrics
have been too banal for their own good. He had promised that his new effort Sleep through the Static would be a departure from his past work, and
although he doesn’t make a statement that is as grand as many had hoped, the set
does at least find him moving forward in the right direction.
Musically speaking, Johnson plays Sleep through the Static close to
his vest. Although the addition of keyboardist Zach Gill to his core band of
drummer Adam Topol and bass player Merlo Podlewski has opened a few more doors
for him, he only tentatively steps through them, making merely minor alterations
to his signature style. It’s never an easy decision, of course, to mess with an
identifiable brand name, and Johnson certainly has staked his claim to the
mellow, folk-rock, surfer scene. After all, he has defined himself not only
through his own catalogue of material, but also through his record label, which
has launched the careers of fellow soul-stirrers Donavon Frankenreiter and Matt
Costa.
To his credit, Johnson managed to sidestep the tediously monotonic ennui that
has plagued his prior efforts, though Sleep through the Static remains
less engaging than it otherwise could have been. Whenever he dabbles in reggae
textures — such as on Hope, a song that he wrote with Rogue Wave leader
Zach Rogue — he sounds like a supremely subdued version of Anthony Kiedis.
Elsewhere, he cops from Meddle-era Pink Floyd (What You Thought You
Need), while reaching for Jackson Browne and James Taylor on the title track
and Same Girl, respectively. Yet, it still feels like something is
missing, as if Johnson is holding back on submitting himself completely to the
artistic process.
In a similar fashion, the lyrics that Johnson penned for Sleep through the
Static never quite hit their mark. Yet, it nonetheless is here that he has
shown the most growth. While it’s true that his work still lacks the poetic
qualities as well as the cohesiveness of Browne’s or Taylor’s output, Johnson at
least has dropped his tendency toward writing annoyingly mundane love songs with
nonsensical rhyming schemes. Not only does he look further inside himself, but
he also continues to move outward, sharing his ruminations upon the state of the
world — which, most notably, are centered around the war in Iraq — thus building
upon some of the concepts that infiltrated his previous endeavor In Between
Dreams. This time, the heavier themes that he tackles tug a little harder at
the corners of Sleep through the Static, thereby providing an indication
that, perhaps, there is more to Johnson than waves crashing upon sun-kissed
Hawaiian beaches.
Considering, however, that three years have separated his most recent
endeavors, it’s frustrating that Johnson falls shy of making a bigger personal
breakthrough. Instead of a surface abrasion, Johnson has opened a few wounds,
but in the end, the cuts that he made aren’t deep enough to allow his soul to
devour his commercial aspirations. For all of the individual moments that succeed, for all of his
well-intentioned ideas, and for all of the genuinely lovely arrangements that he
creates, Sleep through the Static inevitably falls into a long,
slumberous slipstream that begs for some spice. Still, one can hope that,
regardless of what the sales figures for the album happen to be, Johnson’s
maturing perspective — which was born from his concerns over the future that he
will leave for his children — will continue to evolve, rather than stagnate or
disappear into the ether from which they seemingly formed. 
Sleep through the Static is available from
Amazon.com. To order, Click Here!
For Canadian orders, please
Click Here!
For UK orders, please
Click Here!
Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2008 The Music Box
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