Jack Johnson

Jack Johnson's first three albums will forever be shuffled on the playlists of backpackers making their way through Europe. His combination of laid-back rhythms with semi-inspirational lyrics has served as the perfect soundtrack for the just-out-of-high-school-and-trying-to-find-themselves set. He sang about surfing and banana pancakes, and staring up at the stars solved even his biggest problems. On Sleep Through the Static, however, Johnson's naïve positivity is replaced with world-weariness and war fatigue.

The album opens with "All At Once," where Johnson dejectedly sings about not being able to escape the world, and finishes with the thought, "sometimes it feels like a heart is no place to be singin' from at all." This is not the same Jack Johnson that once wrote an entire album for the Curious George movie.

Some of the song titles suggest reprieve, like "Angel" and "Hope," but even then it's not all sunny. The former begins as a mindless love song, before we realize Johnson is singing to a girl who appears to have no time for him. The latter, it turns out, isn't about hope at all, but warning someone that they "better hope they’re not alone."

Even though Static is pretty dour lyrically, most of it is disguised with the same old up-tempo, "Aw, shucks" delivery that colored Johnson's previous albums. Fans of his likely won't be disappointed, but they might get a little depressed.

—Nathan Atnikov
02.15.08

Much of the press surrounding the release of Sleep Through the Static recounted Jack Johnson's claim that he gave all his peppy pop tunes over to the Curious George soundtrack and how that, combined with personal losses -- including the death of his cousin Danny Riley, to whom the album is dedicated -- led the surfing singer/songwriter into darker territory for his fifth album. To a certain extent, all of that is true, as the album does open with an atypically stark, moody number in "All at Once" and there are some darker sentiments lurking within the 14 songs here, but it takes some close listening to find the sorrow flowing through some of the words. Some very close listening, really, as Johnson's sand-brushed, gentle voice doesn't command attention. His voice lulls and soothes, so it takes concentrated effort to hear beyond his tone and hear what he's actually saying. Then again, the meaning of Johnson's music doesn't matter as much as the mellow mood, a feeling that he's sustained throughout his albums and doesn't change here. Johnson may use more electric guitars than acoustics on Sleep Through the Static, but he's strumming them like acoustics and his overall aesthetic has not changed at all: he's still a laid-back guy singing songs that roll so easy they glide into the background. No matter what instrument he's playing or what he's singing about, his music still feels the same, which is enough to satisfy his fans but not to win him many new ones. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide