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 Sleep Through the Static February 14, 2008
Mike Newmark (Tarzana, CA United States)
37 out of 48 found this review helpful
Jack Johnson's soundtrack to the 2006 film Curious George was a winsome piece of folk-pop that kept everything appropriately sunny and superficial. Sleep Through the Static, Johnson's fourth proper LP, has been pitted by publicists and Johnson himself as the melancholic yin to Curious George's carefree yang. By their accounts, this is the record on which the surfer-turned-musician wipes out on the insurmountable tidal wave of real life. He's growing older and watching his children do the same, in an increasingly hostile world. More importantly, he's still reeling from the untimely death of his cousin, Danny Riley (that's him singing backup on "If I Had Eyes"), to whom the album is posthumously dedicated. Sleep Through the Static introduces electric guitar into the mix and--claims Johnson--references his punk-rock roots, all while delving into more mature themes. At least by Jack Johnson standards, it sounds poised to be an immensely dark and difficult album.
It's not, of course, and listeners will instantly find themselves back within the cozy confines of Johnson's all-too-secure environment. Johnson has never been as soulful as Ben Harper, as idiosyncratic as John Mayer or as technically accomplished as Dave Matthews, but he's nothing if not reliable, and the fans who have rocketed him to the top of the charts know exactly what to expect. The album-to-album changes in his sound have been incremental to imperceptible, depending on how closely you listen. And after four installments of largely identical music, the big question is whether devotees will lap this one up with the same satisfaction as they have with the previous three, or whether--like the casual listener--they'll find it rather boring and long in the tooth.
There are minor switch-ups here, but they seem to be guided by the heavy hand of Sleep Through the Static's promoters. For example, Johnson takes the purported stark lament that's supposed to typify his despondency ("All At Once") and sticks it right at the front of the album. I write "purported" because we're meant to hear it as Johnson's troubled cry to a deaf higher power, but its premeditated nature considerably buffers the impact. Johnson questions how to live with tragedy while also dealing in hope ("We could shake it off / And instead we'll plant some seeds"), and the low-slung music is similarly ambivalent. Contemplative, yes; emotionally trying, no. The same goes for the title track, a war protest whose cliches ("Who needs please when we've got guns?") mask Johnson's more visceral reactions. The fact that Johnson uses his head instead of his heart to sort through the muck and shape his songs may be the very thing that keeps the album from realizing itself. It's okay to feel as though the world is caving in when circumstances go this wrong; in light of that, Sleep Through the Static feels a bit too easy.
Those first two songs are about as edgy as this album gets, at least in terms of lyrical subjects. Johnson is a decent poet, but his words have the tendency to float in a river of chloroform with the rest of the music. As such, relatively strong numbers like "Go On"--a bittersweet song about letting his growing children run free--risk passing by unnoticed. That also means that the more lunkheaded ones ("Angel", "Monsoon") don't stick out and derail the flow, so I suppose that the album's soporific tone has its upsides. Previous reviewers have suggested that Sleep Through the Static would benefit from a higher energy level, but I'm not entirely sure I agree. Even when the musicians get worked up, as on "Hope" and "If I Had Eyes," they're not any more effective than they are when they keep it down. What this album and Johnson's career actually need are a few fresh ideas (see: John Mayer's recent transition into blues-rock) and a lot more soul.
I don't mean to sell Sleep Through the Static too short--it can be quite pleasant in the right mood--but as I sat and listened my body itched for something else to do. That's a nice way of saying that Sleep Through the Static is background music, something that feels more appropriate for Starbucks than any environment that requires you to pay attention to what you're hearing. I imagine it wouldn't be this way if Johnson decided to grapple with the static, the way Cat Power might, instead of sleeping through it. Actually, Cat Power is an apt reference point, since Static resembles Power's The Greatest (2006) in both mood and melody--an album I once dismissed as being too pretty and subdued for its own good. Over time, however, its songs took on a stirring potency that characterized it as Cat Power's arguable breakthrough. If The Greatest can do that for me, and doubtlessly quite a few others, perhaps the same fate awaits Sleep Through the Static. Time will tell.
 The curious George syndrome February 7, 2008
Daniel Vargas Blanco (San Antonio, TX)
34 out of 42 found this review helpful
If I could've given this item 3 and a half stars I would've.
I am a Jack Johnson fan from the very beginning, when most people didn't even know the man. Yes, those times when Flake was playing in some stations.
Something happened between In between dreams and this album, and I think it was all because of Curious George!
This album starts off in awesome fashion. As a matter of fact All at Once is an excellent song, and yet, the first time I listened to it I told my wife... "you shouldnt start off an album with such a mellow song". I didnt think that the whole album was going to be like that.
And here's where I agree with a lot of the previous reviewers. Yes people, this album is way too slow. Where did the feel good songs go. Where did the cool guitar riffs and rythms go. What happened to the upbeat songs (ie mudfootball, taylor, holes in heaven, never know, good people, etc)?
Yes, this album is mellow. But there are several songs that I think are worth the while playing over and over again. Among these, Angel, All at once and Same girl.
Why curious george? Cuz, some of the songs sound like some of the slow, depressive lullabies on Curious George soundtrack.
On another note. As much as I love the piano, on this album it tends to shadow the guitar repeatedly, which I hate, since I love the way the man plays the guitar. So thumbs down for the excessive amount of piano.
I will still listen to the cd, but only for very cozy, rainy evenings.
Jack in Gray Scale; Post-George, and Back Down to Business February 10, 2008
J. Chasin (NYC, NY)
23 out of 27 found this review helpful
I have to laugh. The buzz on this record was that, "Whoa, its so much DARKER than Curious George." I don't know what I was expecting-- like, did he spend the last two years shooting up in the Chelsea Hotel and listening to Lou Reed's Berlin?
Nuh uh. This is an instantly likable record, not a kids' record to be sure, but then that one was the anomaly. I will say that it feels like gray scale, like Curious George was in Technicolor whereas this is a classy black and white portrait. But really, how dark can the record be when it says on the back cover, "Recorded with 100% solar energy."
And I played it in the car today for my wife, and she liked it, and she happens to have a golden ear.
No radical departure... February 5, 2008
Nse Ette (Lagos, Nigeria)
22 out of 28 found this review helpful
I'd read interviews where Jack Johnson had stated that his next album would feature a different direction with electric guitars. Well, he's not quite right. "Sleep through the static" isn't a radical departure, which is fine by me as what he does is great; Gently rolling surf like acoustic music. One listen to opening cut "All at once", "Enemy", or the lovely "Same girl" tells you that.
Lead single "If I had eyes" is bluesy and upbeat (well, by his standards), and you can hear the subtle difference new band member (pianist Zach Gill) makes to the music. I like the OO OO OOs!! Similar in feel is "What you thought you needed", with light marching beats and lightly buzzing guitars.
"They do they don't" is slower but with edgier (slightly distorted) sounding guitars (I really like this one), while "Hope" is lite reggae. "Adrift" is a tender piano sprinkled bluesy number, lovely!
I guess where there is more of a change in direction is lyrically; title track "Sleep through the static" sees him going political and lyrically references the Iraq war ("we went beyond where we should have gone" he says) or "Go on" (a lovely acoustic/piano ode to his growing brood, presently 2 children), and the very tender "Angel" (about his wife).
As long as you're not expecting a radically different sound, you should enjoy this,that is if you like the guy's music in the first place.
 Boring ... February 6, 2008
Robert Martin
10 out of 22 found this review helpful
I don't understand. The music on this CD is NOT what made him famous. It's really nothing special. Almost depressing.
Glad I downloaded it before I bought it.
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