Jimmy Eat World – Clarity (1999)

In my early 20s I kind of identified with emo kids, even though I wasn't really listening to proper emo music at that time. I just liked the black hair aesthetic I guess. Had I known this album back then, I'm sure I would've actually also listened to proper emo music. I was only introduced to this album more than five years after its release. Jimmy Eat World's Clarity is pretty much the greatest emo albums of all times. There's a fantastic sense of drama in the songs ranging from beautiful and melodic post-rock sequences to fast punk-style rhythms and screaming. The sounds are very American, which sometimes is a put-off for me, but on this album I don't really care, because the result is so gorgeous. The instrumentation on this album sounds like it could've been the spark that led to bands like Mogwai or Explosions in the Sky to play their style of post-rock.



Clarity sounds at the same time very much like alternative rock and very commercial pop-rock. The sounds are more alternative, the melodies are super catchy. Like the whole emo-genre, this album also raises a variety of emotions in the listener. It's sad, beautiful, aggressive and noisy. I've listened to other Jimmy Eat World albums as well and they have failed to move me as much as this album. Unfortunately it seems like this is the absolute high point of the band's career. This album has bit of a cult following nowadays. It wasn't a hit upon its release, but later on it's been hailed as the greatest emo albums of all times by a variety of music medias.

The album starts with slow tempo drumming and amazingly beautiful chiming electric guitars in the song Table for Glasses. The song grows beautifully form delicate to huge. Lucky Denver Mint starts cranks up the tempo, but there are still some quieter delicate phases in the middle of explosive choruses that blast out amazing post-rock-style guitars and catchy tunes. Your New Aesthetics is a bit more typical emo song with heavier sounds both in guitars and drums. The vocals also change to more aggressive in this song. The guitar riffs are beautiful. Believe in What You Want kind of reminds me of another similar band of the same era, Ash. There are some great cries of backing vocals in the chorus. A Sunday is another example of the more delicate sound that we hear in the album's first track. Also this song keeps growing and growing with some quiet and beautiful slumps in the middle. Crush reminds me of some skate-punk bands of the mid-90's, but the sounds are a bit heavier. 12.23.95 is a great song. It starts with electronic static noises and steady electronic beat, but from there the song grows with beautiful clear sounding chiming guitars. It's a nice calm between the more aggressive songs. Ten also continues the quite relaxed and almost happy sound. Just Watch the Fireworks that follows returns the faster tempo. The sounds in this song remind me a bit of U2's 80's tracks, but the song is a lot better than most of those songs were back in the 80's. The song grows in to beautiful heights in the end and you can almost see the fireworks. For Me This is Heaven continues the stream of amazingly beautiful melodies. When Jim Adkins sings 'Can you still feel the butterflies' I definitely can feel the butterflies for this song. Blister is another faster punk song with fast and aggressive guitar riffs. The title-track Clarity has some of the best guitar riffs on the album. The bass lines are also great with the treble sounds flapping about. The album ends with an epic 16 minute song Goodbye Sky Harbor, that keeps the volume down for most parts of the song.

There doesn't seem to be that many music videos from Clarity, but at least I was able to find one for Lucky Denver Mint, which is great, because it's one of the best songs on the album. The video is not that interesting though. It's just the band fooling around playing basket ball and other sports, and playing the song next to a brown wall.

One of my favourite things about this album are the violins that carry enormous emotion throughout the album along with excellently played electric guitars. On this album Jimmy Eat World manages to combine so many different emotions and carry the storyline between quiet and melancholic and fast and aggressive so masterfully that I cannot but admire in wonder of the beauty of this album. I suggest you crank up the volume and let the music take you away.

Listen to the album on Spotify.