Surf’s Down

The other day I sat in my kitchen on the computer with my daughter. Together on the Web we went through one of those calculators where you answer the questions and it tells you the presidential candidate with the most similar views to your own.

It was awesome to go through that process with a nine-year-old. And to have to sit there, explain the issues and ask, “do you think we should drill for oil in national parks?” and have a kid look you square in the eye like you just proposed wearing a dress to her birthday, “No!”

Kids see things clearly and in black & white. For my nine-year-old daughter global warming is real (and scary), war is bad, and people should be nice. Period.

I’ve always considered Jack Johnson as one of those rarified men up in the attic of coolness. Like the eternal bachelor McConaughey, guys’ guy Clooney and his pet pig, Andy Garcia and his 9 handicap –Jack Johnson is livin’ the dream. He played the surf house party circuit for years a relative unknown except to big wave riders like Kelly Slater before finally being persuaded to record. Now Johnson’s music rides the waves of the pop charts on nearly every continent. Jack Johnson music is like a sunset –simple, universal, and optimistic.

With McConaughey having a kid, Clooney throwing out his back, and now surf bum Johnson releasing what can only be described as a bum-out CD I’m pretty certain the world is about to end. And that seems to be precisely what was on Johnson’s mind. Sleep Through the Static starts with “All at Once” a global warming tale where Johnson pins the environmental crisis on “so many things that we got too proud of.” Along the way he provides the alibi for this rainy day disc from our favorite sunset singer, “Sometimes it feels like a heart is no place to be singing from at all.” Like the clown with the sad face, Johnson seems to acknowledge his responsibility as an artist to speak up.

Johnson hits his stride as he shifts the topic to Iraq. Again successfully wrapping a heavy message into simple verse. Johnson explains the complexity of Iraq by stating, “we went beyond where we should have gone” alongside a sing-a-long chorus “who needs keys when we’ve got clubs, who needs please when we’ve got guns, who needs peace when we’ve gone above.” Johnson paints many, many vivid images on the title track from stomping war down a shower drain for someone else to deal with to a Dodge driving, camouflage wearing, hog of the feast. The beauty of “Sleep Through the Static” is it’s a great track too. Not since Everclear have we had this toxic a message wrapped up in sweet verse. I’d pay good money to hear Johnson play this wolf in sheep’s clothing with Dubyah and Cheney in the audience oblivious and tapping their feet to the beat. It’s not that often a message song is also a sing-a-long song. “Sleep Through the Static” succeeds at both.

I have to compliment Johnson for getting his board shorts in a bunch and kicking out an album with stern warnings as well as an Obama (hope is in no short supply here)-like vision of the future. The issue I have is with the first single. Anyone who buys this album after hearing “If I had Eyes” is sure to be deeply disappointed. While Sleep Through the Static is likely an album that will improve with each listen, there isn’t another burst of Sunkist like the first single. “If I Had Eyes” is one giant tease. Not only is “If I Had Eyes” the standard sunny Johnson fare, but he appears to have actually invested in a distortion pedal taking his sound to new heights. Trouble is the rest of the record never comes close to the upbeat single.

I see a lot of parallels in Sleep Through the Static to Dr. Seuss’ little known environmental novel The Lorax. Because of subject matter and tone it’s sure to under whelm the masses, but his true fans will love him more for it.

The closest we get to the groove of “If I Had Eyes” would probably be the hum and groove of “What You Thought You Need,” a nice little ditty complete with enough fret squeaks for a shirts and skins basketball game. I love that. There are a couple other hazy summer afternoon tracks towards the end including "Losing Keys" which has an Otis Redding vibe to it. But after the first single, it's mostly rain the rest of the way.

You know it’s bad when a guy who doesn’t even own a pair of shoes besides flip-flops is furrowing his brow. With any luck Johnson is right, and hope is on the way.