It doesn’t take a genius to say that Jimmy Eat World have one of the most distinguished and prized back catalogues in the ‘scene’ today. They’ve written genre masterpieces and all time classics: records that have influenced so many soundalikes and rip-off merchants as well as inspiring actual musical movements. ‘Bleed American’ arguably helped make the “emo” scene we all love to hate the mainstream success it still is nearly 10 years on. Whether you prefer ‘Clarity’ or ‘Futures‘ Jimmy Eat World would arguably have the best ‘greatest hits’ collection of any modern band.
It means the band are their own worst enemies when it comes to setting the bar high. I personally think both ‘Futures‘ and ‘Chase This Light’ were good albums, often with great moments, but neither reaches the high points of the aforementioned albums. And that’s always going to be Jimmy Eat World‘s problem – expectations will always be extremely high and what is a great album for another band ends up only being a good one for the Arizona mob. Step forward ‘Invented’, a record that’s exceptional in places and quite average in others. Surprisingly it offers nods towards both old and new JEW – the title track and ‘Mixtape’ are the most ‘Clarity’-esque sounding songs the band have penned in years. But there’s something here which doesn’t quite sit well with me. ‘Invented’ is a grower – when I first heard it I wasn’t convinced at all – but I’m borderline as to whether this record is the band’s worst so far or not.
Still, Jimmy Eat World‘s worst album is better than most band’s best album and there are plenty of great songs on this record. ‘Movielike’ and ‘Cut’ are great tracks, first single ‘My Best Theory’ does exactly what ‘Big Casino’ did on the last album, ‘Evidence’ has that big old Jim Adkins vocal we’ve grown to adore and I really love ‘Mixtape’ as a way to finish the album. But somewhere along the way something goes slightly – and only ever-so-slightly – awry. ‘Heart Is Hard To Find’ isn’t the best album opener they’ve ever had, while I just can’t fathom ‘Coffee and Cigarettes’. It’s certainly the most instant track on the album, but I just don’t like the chorus all that much.
I don’t want this to come across as a negative review because ‘Invented’ is a good album. There are some really standout tracks and quite a few would be contenders for that mythical ‘best of’. I just feel that in comparison to some of the band’s older work it’s not quite up to the really high standards they’ve set. As I said, many bands would kill for a record as good as this one, but for Jimmy Eat World I expect a little bit more.