“Sleep Through the Static” – Jack Johnson

Rating: 6/10

Jack Johnson’s fifth album, “Sleep Through the Static,” is supposedly quite different from his previous work. Jack intrigued fans by saying this album “would contain lots of electric guitar work,” instead of his normally all acoustic compilations.

The first couple of songs tell listeners right away they were wrong to expect anything new from Jack Johnson. His laid back guitar, boorishly simple drum beats and his ever-monotonous crooning are seemingly identical to the style he’s shown previously.

Still, subtle differences show a slight maturity from the surfer-singer-songwriter. In the title track, Johnson takes on a political tone as he sings against the war in Iraq.

Since he is usually singing about silly whimsical things like “Bubble Toes” and “Banana Pancakes”, it is really hard to take him seriously when he says “We went beyond where we should have gone.” Maybe he should stick to his own advice and not move on to singing about politics.

Where most of Johnson’s previous songs feature the classic acoustic guitar, bass and drum combo, other instruments are featured on this album. Piano is strongly integrated into every song on the album, and proves to be a good contribution. However, the banjo in “Sleep Through the Static” and accordion in “They Do, They Don’t” don’t strike quite a nice chord.

The album’s centerpiece, “Angel,” goes back to the classic style Jack is known for, with sweet lyrics that sound too good to be true. This could very well be the “In Your Eyes” of Generation X, that boys blast from boomboxes over their heads in an attempt to win over the girl they love.

“Monsoon” really caught my attention at first, with its great opening that had an almost R&B feel to it. It makes one want to sway and snap along. As if that wasn’t enough, the piano comes in with a smooth bluesy tone that fits just right with the rest of the song.

Just as I am about to admit that maybe Johnson really knows what he is doing, and really can write a great song musically and lyrically, he pulls a fast one on me with the overly cheesy line of “Monsoon-er or later.” No pun intended, right Jack?

On the song “Losing Keys” he sings “I’ve been losing lots of keys lately…” and simultaneously hits a note on the guitar that seems a bit off key. Though the symbolism is witty and cute, the song is hard to listen to for anyone who isn’t tone deaf, and left me scrambling for the “seek” button on my stereo.

“Sleep Through the Static” is a rather hit-or-miss affair, and unfortunately does not show a new side of Jack Johnson. I guess we’ll just have to keep “Sitting, Waiting, Wishing” that the next one has more to offer.