Jimmy Eat World Re-Invented?

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 7, 2010 7:20PM

We're conflicted. We can't tell if Jimmy Eat World's new album Invented is a welcome return to form or a retreat into the group's past. After the group hit the big time with a string of hits off 2001's Bleed American (renamed Jimmy Eat World after 9/11) later releases saw these Arizona-based emo-poppers descending into darker waters. Their earlier output was marked by sunny melodies and charging songs hell-bent of lifting the listener along with them but their output over the last decade has been far more aggressive and far less tuneful.

Invented sees the band running back towards the more summery sonic climate of Bleed American and 1999's Clarity. The band is back to running giddily along teenage tableaux, at one point writing a veritable ode to late night couple's session in Denny's with "Coffee And Cigarettes," and it's all incredibly familiar and warm almost to the point of being overly sentimental.

That said, we like the fact that Jimmy Eat World is taking a step back, reevaluating their direction, and returning to what they're really good at. We'll take the predictability of their compositional comfort food off the ill-fitting angry stances that infiltrated their more recent work. The band's forte was always tapping into simple emotional strains and supporting them with the kind of music you can both hum along with in the shower or lose yourself in a mosh pit to. We're O.K. with them returning to those strengths with Invented.

Jimmy Eat World plays tonight, October 7, at The Riv, 4746 N Racine, 7 p.m., $24, all ages