Jimmy Eat World – My Best Theory
Then set about making an attempt on the world record for Amount of Time Spent Talking About a Single Visit to Yeovil…
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[3.11]
Chuck Eddy: Isolated seconds of this early on suggest they might be able to do a halfway decent ’80s power ballad and/or synth pop number. And the way the singer stretches out a syllable at 2:20 reminds me of some song I might’ve liked once, though who knows what. And sorry, that’s the best I’ve got.
[3]
Anthony Easton: From the Eggleston shot on their first album, to the XTC quoting peacock feather, to the back of the pretty girl in the peach dress on this one, Jimmy Eat World hired the best graphic designers working today. Ironically, for work that is so stylish, the music has nothing going for it.
[5]
John Seroff: Nasal, unchallenging diluted pop slog distinctly lacking in snap or vigor. To be fair, they likely wouldn’t enjoy hanging out with me either.
[3]
Alfred Soto: Eight years ago, they were Blink-182 clones adrift in the post-nineties alt-rock sea. But to my and probably their surprise, their last album charted in the top five. By muddying the mix and processing the vocals ever so slightly they figure they can duplicate its success. But I suspect these are too many variables for me and them to keep in mind.
[3]
Al Shipley: These guys have 4 great singles under their belts, but they were all from the same album and it was released 9 years ago, so this is just another hookless bore in a long string of diminishing returns.
[3]
Alex Ostroff: First things first: “The Middle” is a pop-emo classic of the Naughties. “My Best Theory” is most decidedly not. “The Middle” draws its energy from the contrast between the relatively spare verses and the rush of the chorus. JEW’s latest starts off murky and plodding, piling on increasingly unnecessary guitars in search of drama. A couple metronome clicks faster, some self-aware lyrics, and a more prominent role for the bassist, and this could be a half-decent track by Fall Out Boy. Shame, that.
[2]
David Raposa: I guess these guys wanted to buck the expectations raised through regrouping with their Bleed American producer (Mark Trombino) by releasing this duller-than-dull slow-as-shit single. Mission accomplished!
[3]
Martin Skidmore: I hated them when we reviewed one a few years ago, and nothing much has changed. They sound like a limp post-grunge rock act with a weedy, whiney singer. There are occasional moments of rhythmic impetus here, but they are wasted on a lame song.
[2]
Iain Mew: This eventually shows hints of producing the kind of combined heavy musical and heavy emotional momentum that emo thrives on, but it’s an awful lot of hard work to get there. And really, “let’s hope the old script gets a new twist”? They’re making it too easy.
[4]