Album Review: Jack Johnson, To the Sea

For Jack Johnson’s fifth studio album To the Sea, his first since 2008’s Sleep Through the Static, the Hawaiian singer-songwriter continues on his laidback musical journey exploring the snapshots of life. As with his previous project, To the Sea is an environmental friendly piece of work carefully crafted in Johnson’s two solar-powered studios: Hawaii’s The Mango Tree and L.A’s Solar Powered Plastic Plant. The album as a whole has a very relaxed feel which tends to be in step with Jack’s signature style.

To the Sea kicks off with the first single “You and Your Heart,” a song which depicts the internal struggle of leading with your heart or your brain, and is followed by the cool title track.  “No Good With Faces” begins with a lyric that many people can relate to with “no good with faces and I’m bad with names” and then proceeds to explore deeper issues. Meanwhile, “At Or With Me” begins with a beautiful piano part which morphs into a funky vibe when the guitar and drums pick up the pace. Sandwiched between “At Or With Me” and “From the Clouds” is the surprisingly short “When I Look Up,” all 58 seconds of it.

Johnson explores the father-daughter relationship with the touching “My Little Girl.” “The Upsetter” has a real island music feel and warns against upsetting yourself when you could experience the alternative of just letting things roll off your back. “Red Wine, Mistakes, Mythology” has a blues-infused harmonica and a lot of soul. Johnson gets spiritual on the lilting “Anything But the Truth,” while “Only the Ocean” closes To the Sea out with a sound that is a throwback to the 1960s.

To the Sea is available now.

Nikita Palmer for Citadel Digital  © 2010

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