Into The Sea By Jack Johnson

It always irked me that when the world hopped on the (almost literal) wave of Jack Johnson’s music, I never found it particularly special. It seemed like pleasant beach music that I wouldn’t deem necessary to take anywhere else. But with Johnson’s fifth studio album, I am finally aboard because Into The Sea is excellent.

“You And Your Heart” is the lead single and opening track of the album and it’s excellent radio-friendly fare to get you into a Jack Johnson state of mind for the rest of the album. The buoyant guitar backbeat is reminiscent of Sheryl Crow’s happier tunes and it’s a great, typically optimistic start to the record.

On “No Good With Faces,” Johnson moves away from a prominent acoustic guitar sound and, while the song has a slight melancholic sound, the more audible keyboards make it sound like it belongs in a movie soundtrack. This ennui fades away as soon as “At Or With Me” starts though – it is Johnson’s vocals this time, and not an instrument, that carry the beat of the song and will have you dancing along.

It would be easy to point out enjoyable parts in every song on the album, but I’ll try and sum it up with some other snippets to look out for – the electric guitar line that makes Johnson’s vocals feel like they’re about ready to head up to the skies on “From The Clouds”; the intimacy on songs like “My Little Girl” and “Turn Your Love” that makes it sound as if Johnson wrote them just for you; and the bluesy harmonica on “Red Wine, Mistakes, Mythology.”

The difference between this and all his other records may be explained by what Johnson thinks of the album, stating: “It’s about trying to go beneath the surface and understand yourself.” If it’s taken this long for him to understand himself, we’re okay with it because it’s produced a really great record that was well worth the wait.