Sleep Through The Static : Jack Johnson : Review : Rolling Stone

Jack Johnson may be a former pro surfer, but he ain't no Beach Boy. Where the songs of Brian Wilson (who never actually surfed, remember) celebrate the rush and exuberant triumph of catching a wave, Johnson draws on the sport's solitary, Zen-like side — the gentle, rolling rhythms of his music match his simple, nature-inspired language. Over the course of three platinum albums, plus the bulk of the chart-topping 2006 soundtrack to Curious George, this laid-back worldview has been enough to make the affable Johnson an unlikely pop sensation.

His new disc, Sleep Through the Static, was supposed to be the project on which Johnson shook up his formula. The album reunites him with Ben Harper's producer, JP Plunier, who helmed Johnson's 2001 debut, Brushfire Fairytales. Touring keyboard player Zach Gill has been added to Johnson's usual guitar-bass-drums studio trio, allowing for a slightly wider range of sounds and textures.

But while Johnson has spoken about the darker themes informing the songs on Sleep, and even referenced his punk-rock past, the album isn't exactly a radical departure. Certainly, some of the lyrics here represent a more mature sensibility than the Johnson of goofball favorites such as "Bubble Toes" and "Banana Pancakes." (The Curious George assignment was an inspired idea, since the singer often comes across like a cool, lovable camp counselor.)

Johnson is now a thirty-two-year-old father of two, and his new songs express the contemporary fears and realities that hit home even in his idyllic Hawaiian paradise. The opening "All at Once" sets the tone when he sings that "as the darkness gets deeper/We're sinking, so we reach for love." The title track is a jumbled meditation on the Iraq War. It's a bit too cheeky for its own good ("shock and awful thing" is dated and obvious), but somehow still effective, if only because of its surprising source.

Some of the more ambitious writing, though, just falls flat. "Archaism is a dusty road leading us back to nowhere," from "They Do, They Don't," has to be one of the clunkier lines in recent memory, and building the lite-reggae number "Monsoon" around the phrase "mon-sooner or later" is unfortunate. Johnson also still has a weakness for Deep Stoner Thoughts such as "All of life is in one drop of the ocean."

If the words sometimes suffer from trying too hard, the music on Sleep Through the Static would benefit from being a little braver. Drummer Adam Topol is kept on what must be the tightest leash in rock, and though Gill's keyboards add a few nice, soulful splashes, you can almost feel Johnson and Plunier holding back. In song after song, solos and instrumental breaks arrive only after the singing is all done, extending the tranquility of the grooves rather than disrupting the motion of the ocean. Incorporating some of these unexpected elements — the weird little "woo-woo-woos" at the end of "If I Had Eyes," the guitar buzz that concludes "What You Thought You Needed" — into the bodies of the songs would have gone a long way toward adding the variety and contrast that's generally been lacking in Johnson's work.

Or maybe, in the end, Johnson is best when he's stripped down. The finest moments on Sleep Through the Static are the simplest, like the aching love song "Angel" or "Go On," a sweetly swaying meditation on his growing children. These songs are barely more than sketches, but they're completely realized, with a focus to the sound and a specificity to the lyrics that thelarger-themed numbers never quite attain.

Though Johnson has been keeping up with the headlines, it's clear that his heart is still in the things closest to home: his family and his environment. Sleep Through the Static marks a tentative step forward for this improbable superstar. We'll see if the album's well-intentioned worldliness turns out to be an experiment or if he pushes himself further the next time. Either way, like any surfer will tell you, if you want to ride the big ones, you can't be afraid of wiping out.

ALAN LIGHT

(Posted: Feb 7, 2008)

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Review 1 of 9

4of 5 Stars

Oh, Rolling Stone, your pretentiousness is showing. Johnson is a true poet. He can communicate more in one his songs than your writers can in a 6 page article. What people like about Johnson is that he is true to himself. He makes music that he likes to play. He writes poignant lyrics that express what's on his mind. The formula for his success is his own and didn't come out of a mixing board or a record company boardroom. There are very few artists that I can buy their CD and really come to like nearly every song on it, but Johnson is definitely one. This new album is true Jack and I love it. I still think "On and On" is his best to date but he's got plenty of time to top himself. My only complaint about Johnson is that he doesn't add extra dates to his tour - he sells out the Red Rocks venue in Denver, where I live, in minutes every time. I'm going, but LOTS of people here are bummed that they missed out again.

May 4, 2008 11:29:32

Review 2 of 9

5of 5 Stars

I love this album. To condemn it for its slow, undramatic melodies and simply worded lyrics would be to miss out on exactly what makes this album so beautiful. Jack Johnson must always be considered in context. He is not a city-hopping, fame-seeking rock star; he is a natural, small-town family man surfer. To quote Jack from Rolling Stone's own feature article, "A lot of artists fall into a thing where they're constantly trying to create art. But I think you can forget to take things in." Jack's music is honest and real, and I see that honesty and realness so much in Sleep Through the Static. He doesn't hit us over the head with experimental solos or apocalyptic lyrics. Jack takes in the life he lives, and puts out unassumingly beautiful music. This album reflects on deeper themes, questions the direction of the world, ponders death and loneliness and war, but behind each of Jack's darker tracks lies his clear love of life. Jack isn't the type of artist to starve himself or drug himself in hopes of artistic revelation. What I hear on Sleep Through the Static is a voice saying, "There's a lot of pain and uncertainty in life, and a lot of problems in our world, and this knowledge is disheartening and hard to deal with since we don't really have a lot of answers. But at the same time, look at the sunset. Hold your child. Feel the wind. Smell the fresh air. Love life, because life is beautiful." Thank you, Jack.

Mar 21, 2008 10:06:21

Review 3 of 9

5of 5 Stars

Maybe it's because it is new and so different than "Dreams", "On and On", and "Brushfire", but I have not stopped listening to this album since it came out.

Every single track tells an incredible story(indecipherable until listed to more than 2-3x as another reviewer pointed out). While most of Jack's previous albums dealt with themse like death and love- this one gets even deeper, contemplating life, creating life, and learning to build on that which breaks us down during low tide.

And as far as the "stoner" lyrics reference because Jack chose to use a wise teaching of the late Dalhi Lama, is very disapointed for a Rolling Stone caliber magazine.

Folk/Alt/Indie Rock Music lovers- you will love this album.

Mar 6, 2008 11:50:36

Review 4 of 9

4of 5 Stars

I thought Jack Johnson's other c.d.s were a little better and I felt more of a connection with his previous songs. At the same time, this is still a great c.d. and I doubt I will get tired of it any time soon. It's worth the money.

Feb 19, 2008 08:17:22

Review 5 of 9

5of 5 Stars

It was an interesting review and you make some fine points, but overall there’s stuff going on that you’re not catching. The easily digestible, or what is immediately heard is perceived as simple because it is simply perceived. The lines that initially slip through the cracks are often indecipherable at first, second and even third listen. I would say that the lyrics on Sleep Through The Static are more complex and profound than on any other album. Its not too tough to take the most obvious lines that are the superficial level of representing a complex idea, or critique of an ideology, and make them sound simple, after three or four lines of complex and illusory linguistics that construct a much deeper meaning than you’re realizing.

The diversity is very subtle - and one could say, non existent. But it is a winning formula - and this seems to be your main criticism. Compared to another artist who has a similar range of listenership, Jack portrays and espouses some very peaceful and forward thinking values - values that some may believe are valid in our world. And because he is not an extreme in any sense, his often subtle critiques of things become heard by many individuals who might have been advised against listening to his music. Perhaps this is his genius. Although, if that is the case, then significant things must be said in Sleep Through The Static.

Consider also, the various approaches to critiquing music. It seems that most of the current criticism revolves around lyric simplicity, weakness, mundane tempos, and a general lack of creative risk, or what has been called in poetry - duende (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duende_%28art%29). I think the dark force of duende is very present in this album, perhaps not as blatantly as some might like.

Many of the lyrics take a look at perspective, listenership, objectivity, subjectivity - certainly not an overt critique of modern politics or culture, but really, is. In terms of a general view that recognizes differences, not similarities, on whatever scale - in terms of physical matter or skin color doesn’t matter, here Jack brings these to the fore: “what a wonderful world from this angle we see.” This is a hit at a culture that ignores problems and thrives on the illusion of difference. A resolution to this idea may be found in the line, “who needs peace/when we’ve gone above.”

Jack’s music seems to be a constant play on position or perspective. But he plays with this consciously in his music, I think, in order to increase our awareness of connectivity. He describes a place in the first verse of the first song that appears to be madness, “all at once/ the world can overwhelm me/ there’s almost nothing that you could tell me/ that would ease my mind.” But, his music doesn’t reflect this inner conflict - so what does this paradox say about the function of his simple, melodic grooves; at least as they function for him and in turn, the big picture of his music?

Certainly, many of Jack’s lines are metaphorical, and a bit less accessible than one might like, but as a poet, the displacement and apparent ambiguity adds a significant level of depth and transcendence as the words bring the listener deeper into a subjective understanding and create a deeper meaning through the meditative grooves.

The labelling of Jack’s lyrics as “stoner lyrics,” ideas or whatever, blatently shows the ignorance of the critic - come on. The author’s aforementioned, “Zen-like side”is in fact indicative of Zen-Buddhism, or “all of life is in one drop of the ocean.” I personally wouldn’t venture to call the Tibetan Buddhist leader, The Dalai Lama a “stoner.” Consider the Buddhist chant, Om mani padme hum,” or enlightenment is everything.

As Jack has said, "Thanks for listening..."

Feb 13, 2008 11:28:00

Review 6 of 9

2of 5 Stars

As a dedicated fan of Jack's music, I did not care if this album rated up there with his gigantic commercial successes: collecting the body of his work is the important thing. With that said, STTS put me to sleep with its uninspiring, limited range. I agree with Jack, who admits he is not a singer, but in general his tunes are unrivaled in their lyrics, composition and orchestration. Jack Johnson's music is a refreshing escape from the hip hop dribble that defines this generation. Thank God for Jack.

Feb 12, 2008 08:47:14

Review 7 of 9

3of 5 Stars

By all means a good Jack Johnson album but I agree that I was looking for more mixture of the various piano, guitar. Are the Bubble Toes, Taylor, Mud Football, Good People types to be the next project. Solid voice, sleeping through static hits many feelings, but was looking for a new type of song or two which I didn't hear. Will continue to listen to it and plan to see his tour this year.

Feb 11, 2008 21:33:15

Review 8 of 9

4of 5 Stars

While many more listens will undoubtedly inform my final take on this album, my initial impression is that, despite dabbles in darker themes and the noticable introduction of some new sounds, this is recognizably Jack. And to me, that's a really good thing. Mellow. Thoughtful. Simple. Genuine. Immensely enjoyable.

Feb 7, 2008 02:54:27

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