Music Review: To The Sea

Album name: To The Sea (2010)
Band/Artist: Jack Johnson
Genre: Acoustic

Rating:

So while trying out new music and new artists I’d never heard before, I’d once remarked to a friend that if ever there’s someone who can strike a balance between the happy-go-lucky lightness of Jason Mraz and almost an end-of-the-world solemnity of Damien Rice, it had to be Jack Johnson. It was love at first note with “Banana Pancakes”, and since then I have been a huge fan. With amazing lyrics coupled with those magical acoustic straits, I have always maintained that Jack Johnson’s music is a wholesome treat for the ears, and the mind. “To The Sea” is his latest album, released just this June, and even though I was already more than ready to fall in love with it again, it surpassed my expectations.

The album begins with the songs “You and Your Heart” and “No Good With Faces”, and they’ve got the typical Jack Johnson ingredients, although that’s about all . Now “At or With Me” starts with a piano intro, and in no way does it flow the way you think it will. Note the beats and the way they dance to the lyrics in this one. “Turn Your Love” is another easy-flowing song, but my favorite of the lot has to be “The Upsetter” with its unusual beats and interludes. “My Little Girl” is a slow number, something the kind you might want yourself want to strum the guitar along with. Again, the song “Red Wines, Mistakes, Mythology” , intriguing as it sounds, is actually pretty unique, with the mouth organ playing its part well. “Pictures of People Taking Pictures” is another favorite of mine, what with the catchy lyrics; add to it the fact that it is easy to hum along with it. However when it comes to intros, “Anything But The Truth” would have to be the one I pick, because when the song started I found myself smiling, just like that. The last track is a live version of “What You Thought You Need” and is a nice way to end the album.

Forget about the songs in particular, really. Jack Johnson is a little like taking a ride from one feeling to another, and enjoying the journey. In a weird way though, his music reminds me of rain. Maybe it has to do with the way “Banana Pancakes” starts, but somehow, Jack Johnson and rain go together. While listening to “To The Sea”, all I could think of was an aimless drive through the city in the evening rain, with the windows rolled up, and the orange streetlights reflecting on the raindrops trickling down the windows. With my fingers giving beats on the steering wheel, of course. With the busy world passing me by even as I lose myself in unadulterated happiness, and look around me with dispassionate pursuit. On the whole, a great album for acoustic lovers. Easy on the ears, and wholesome for the musical soul in all of us.

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