Clarity (Jimmy Eat World album)

Clarity is the third studio album by American rock band Jimmy Eat World. It was released on February 23, 1999, through Capitol Records, with which Jimmy Eat World clashed several times while recording their second studio album Static Prevails (1996). The band recorded a follow-up with producer Mark Trombino in May and June 1998, and were free to make it however they wanted without interference from Capitol. The recording sessions began at Sound City in Van Nuys, California, before moving to Clear Lake Audio in North Hollywood, California. Clarity, which is described as an emo, pop punk, and punk rock release, marked the beginning of frontman Jim Adkins' tenure as the band's main vocalist, taking over from guitarist Tom Linton.

Following the release of Jimmy Eat World's self-titled second EP (1998), "Lucky Denver Mint" began airing on radio in January 1999. "Lucky Denver Mint" and "Blister" were released as singles in 1999; a music video was later made for the former, which was directed by Darren Doane. Jimmy Eat World went on a six-week tour of the United States, and appeared on that year's Warped Tour. In spite of promotion for "Lucky Denver Mint", Clarity was deemed a commercial failure, and Capitol dropped the band in August 1999. The band then toured Europe, and played three US shows before going on a break. Clarity was released worldwide in 2001, where it was promoted with "Lucky Denver Mint" and "Blister". The album has been re-released several times, and has been performed in its entirety by the band on multiple occasions.

Clarity reached number 30 on the US Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart, and peaked at number 47 in Germany. Despite receiving favorable reviews from music critics, many of whom praised the dynamic instrumentation, it was commercially overlooked upon release, but has since amassed cult status and further critical acclaim, and is lauded as one of the best emo albums of all time by publications such as Kerrang!, LA Weekly, and Rolling Stone. Some music critics have credited the album as a huge influence on later acts such as Something Corporate, the Wonder Years, and Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional.

Background

Jimmy Eat World released their second album Static Prevails through Capitol Records in July 1996. The creative process was hampered by recurring clashes with the band's record label, who insisted the band rework some of their songs and write new ones, and wanted to engage different producers. A&R representatives Craig Aaronson and Loren Israel were met with indifference at the label's offices, with president Gary Gersh not willing to support an act that was relatively unknown. Capitol included two songs on promotional samplers that were sent to programming directors at radio stations; the label said it was part of a development process it had for the band. The Dallas Observer said the sampler and a lack of promotion were seen as the label cutting its losses. Jimmy Eat World promoted Static Prevails with a short tour of the United States, and a cross-country tour with Sense Field in early 1997.

Within a year of its release, the album had only sold less than 10,000 copies, marking it a commercial failure. Around this time, Jimmy Eat World was being tagged as emocore, shortened to emo, an introspective style of punk rock, within the music scene, as were their peers. Despite the band being under contract to Capitol, they decided to issue seven-inch vinyl records illegally as they felt the label would not notice them due to the lack of interest from Capitol. A three-way split single was released through Crank! A Record Company that featured Jimmy Eat World, Sense Field, and Mineral, which included an early version of "Crush". Sometime after this, Jimmy Eat World released a split single with Jejune that was released through Big Wheel Recreation. In early 1998, Adkins and guitarist Tom Linton were part of a six-person side project that would have consisted of soft rock material. With Static Prevails failure, the members debated what independent record labels that could sign with after Capitol dropped them. To their shock, Aaronson told them that Capitol wanted to release a second album from the band. During the process, the band slept on the office floor of their manager Jorge Hinojosa. Adkins said the studio atmosphere was ripe for experimenting; ideas were explored if they helped the songs. He added, "I would think a song was totally finished and then one of the guys in the band or [Trombino] would bring up an idea that really closed the deal". Adkins said while recording "Table for Glasses", the band learned "if you aren't doing a lot, it doesn't take a lot to get a big dynamic impact", citing the cello as a prime example. Journalist Dan Ozzi, in his book Sellout: The Major-Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore 1994–2007 (2021), wrote that Clarity was a "sweeping epic of an album", which melded dense orchestral writing with quirky rock structures. Unlike previously, where the band did not move beyond their typical guitar-bass-drum setup, Clarity saw the band toy with a variety of other instrumentation, such as bells, cellos, chimes, organs, pianos, temple blocks, triangles, and violins. Clarity marks the start of Adkins having more lead vocals than Linton. With the exception of the song "Blister", from this point onwards, Linton only provided backing vocals on some tracks until "Action Needs an Audience" on their seventh studio album, Invented (2010). Previously, Adkins and Linton introduced new material during band practices, but for Clarity, Adkins handled most of the songwriting. The slow-tempo song opens with a droning organ, followed by a shuffle beat, picked guitar notes, and concluding with a crescendo; the slowcore crawl and harmonies were influenced by the music of Low. The power pop song includes drum and guitar loops, and is bookended with a drum intro and outro, which were made by Trombino cutting up the drums.

According to Lind, "Your New Aesthetic" was originally a "very mellow" song but was turned into "a more aggressive, dark rock song". On "A Sunday", the band focused on making the chorus sections sound softer and more intimate than the verses. Adkins felt the song's slower tempo helped let the "drums breathe". The track includes a Hammond B3 organ, which the band borrowed from Sylvia Massy. Lind theorized Adkins wrote "Crush" when he was living in Flagstaff, Arizona, due to the reference of snow. Lind went round with a Dr. Rhythm drum machine while they were demoing material. He began pressing buttons, the drum patterns played at random. The band wrote music around it; the droning guitar that is heard was made by Adkins as he was playing the guitar tracks backwards, recording them on to a separate tape, and adding them back in. While in the studio, the band were unable to come up with a better drum sound, and ended up using the one from the drum machine. With "Ten", the band opted to use different drum set ups for each section of the song, as they had done with "Lucky Denver Mint". A loop is featured throughout the track, with Lind playing a different kit during the chorus and bridge portions. "Just Watch the Fireworks" began as a slower, ballad-esque type song, until Trombino suggested changing it to mid-tempo.

"Blister" recalls the melodic punk aggression of Static Prevails. Adkins said they enjoyed playing the track's main guitar riff, and used a whole tape reel for it. Throughout the sessions, they continued "adding stuff and adding stuff, and it just got really ridiculous. It was basically because we could." the song's lyrics were based on John Irving's novel A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989).

Release and promotion

Gersh was replaced by Roy Lott in 1998; the former later became Jimmy Eat World's co-manager. He felt the label's new regime was not equipped for developing a band like them. Adkins attributed the delay to Lott having no intention of listening to it. With months passing, the band had a hunch that Capitol had no desire of issuing Clarity, something they felt Aaronson was hiding from them. The members were growing concerned that they might add up as major-label casualty, which they previously read about in punk zine Maximum Rocknroll. The band's A&R representative suggested releasing an EP; he contacted Vinnie Fiorello of Less Than Jake, who ran the indie label Fueled by Ramen, and supported the idea. and includes "Lucky Denver Mint" and "For Me This Is Heaven" from Clarity.

Los Angeles-based radio station KROQ-FM began playing "Lucky Denver Mint" in early January 1999. As a result, there was interest in the song, and it appeared in the Drew Barrymore film Never Been Kissed (1999). It was planned to be used as a theme song for The Time of Your Life, a TV series by Fox that was canned. "Lucky Denver Mint" was released to modern rock radio stations in late January 1999. After this, Clarity was given a release date. The album's booklet folds out to reveal a grid of sixteen images, four of which make up the front cover. The artwork details small amounts of light on a watery background, a flashlight lighting up the inside of a cave, and screen door netting. At the Drive-In, and Sense Field. The trek included an appearance at the SXSW music conference. "Lucky Denver Mint" was released as a single in 1999.

Jimmy Eat World recorded a version of a new song, "Sweetness", in March 1999; Linton said they were unsure what to do with it, though mentioned including it on future pressings of the album. It did not gain any traction at MTV, and while Never Been Kissed performed well at the box office, it did not further the band's career. Clarity was released in Japan on June 9, 1999; this edition included "What I Would Say to You Now" and "Christmas Card" as bonus tracks. Jimmy Eat World then appeared on the 1999 Warped Tour. "Blister" was released to radio stations on July 20, 1999. Despite critical praise and promotion of "Lucky Denver Mint" in Never Been Kissed, Clarity was commercially unsuccessful in a musical climate dominated by teen pop, and the band was dropped by Capitol in August 1999.

Jimmy Eat World said Capitol was too occupied overlooking the catalogs of the Beatles and Frank Sinatra, that they flew under the radar. In September and October 1999, they embarked on a tour of Europe, with No Knife, and supported the Promise Ring for three shows at the end of October. The band's management were against the idea of going to Europe as the band did not have a stronghold in the US. Clarity was released worldwide on January 29, 2001, which was re-promoted with the "Blister" and "Lucky Denver Mint" singles.

Reissues and full-album performances

Nettwerk America re-released Clarity and Static Prevails in June 2001. Both albums were again re-released, this time by Capitol, in May 2007; the Capitol Clarity reissue includes "Christmas Card", and a studio demo of "Sweetness" as bonus tracks. The 2009 vinyl reissue includes the two bonus tracks from the previous CD reissue. The 16 images that were used for the original album booklet appear on the front of the record sleeve. Art company The Uprising were hired to re-work the art for the 2009 release using the original images, saying, "we were brought on to reconstruct and reinterpret the original artwork. We wanted to stay true to the original, but give it a slightly more sophisticated and updated look & feel. These reconstructions are always a little tricky [...] but this turned out fantastic. And the actual prints look amazing!"

In February and March 2009, Jimmy Eat World went on tour, with support from Reuben's Accomplice and No Knife, to mark the 10-year anniversary since Clarity release. The band, who had been extensively rehearsing in-studio, performed a rehearsal live online on February 12, 2009. They also released Clarity Live, a download-only recording of the tour's finale in Tempe that was released on April 7, 2009. The band performed their fourth studio album Bleed American (2001) and Clarity in their entirety in two shows in the UK in June 2011. In 2013, an EP called iTunes Sessions, which includes performances of "Goodbye Sky Harbor" and "For Me This Is Heaven", was released. In 2014, Clarity, along with Static Prevails and their fifth studio album Futures (2004), was reissued on vinyl. In 2021, the band performed the album in its entirety again, alongside tenth studio album Surviving (2019) and Futures, under the title Phoenix Sessions.

Contemporary reception

Clarity was met with generally favorable reviews from music critics. AllMusic reviewer Mark Vanderhoff stated Clarity "mixes introspective balladry with power-chord punk rock, elements of chamber pop, and subtle doses of electronica to create a remarkably unique album".

RTÉ's Harry Guerin described the album as a "dense, beautiful collection which sees them bring in orchestras, drum loops and programming and find space for killer choruses, ballads and left field forays. The shortest song is under three minutes, the longest over 16 and the more you listen to all of them the more you'll wonder why this masterpiece wasn't massive." Nude as the News co-founder Jonathan Cohen said that while it had a "few pretty solid rock songs", there was "simply no real rock muscle to be flexed" with Clarity.

Retrospective reviews

Despite being largely overlooked upon its release, Clarity critical stature has grown since 1999; to the point where Harry Guerin of RTÉ dubbed it "the Led Zeppelin IV of emo rock."

Upon its re-issue in 2007, Blender magazine noted Clarity "established a foundation for 21st century emo. Dozens of weepy bottom-feeders have tried to write mid-20s angst anthems better than the soaring "Lucky Denver Mint" or the delicately heartbroken "Just Watch The Fireworks"—but few have succeeded." Nate Chinen writing for The New York Times said "Clarity was a pivotal album for Jimmy Eat World, the first to feature Jim Adkins on lead vocals instead of Mr. Linton and the last to reflect the heart-on-sleeve values of emocore more than the hard gleam of pop-punk". Chinen said the tracks convey a sense of "acute self-awareness along with flashes of grace and insolence: the album is a pitch-perfect teenage plaint". Record Collector Eleanor Goodman commented; "though the multicoloured cover of 1999’s Clarity became familiar in music shops, its combination of melancholy, introspective pop with faster punk rock broke the band in the US".

Sputnikmusic staff reviewer Andrew Hartwig praised Jimmy Eat World's musicianship and stated; "Musically, the band are excellent. The drumming is sophisticated and original and the use of two guitars is a great addition to the band. The aforementioned range of added instruments adds immensely to the arrangements of the songs". He summarized his review saying; "Clarity is an album full of sensible pop songs, replay value and a diverse range of instruments and sounds. Truly one of the best albums of the 90s". When Kerrang! magazine made a Jimmy Eat World album guide, they stated; "Glorious is perhaps the best word to capture the essence of Clarity. Overflowing with flawless melodies backed up not only by magnificent musicianship but a ton of heart, this is the album that renders the label 'emo' redundant. Every note and syllable resonates with the kind of heartfelt emotion we'd like to think is poured into everything we listen to".

Legacy and influence

Writing in 2003, Andy Greenwald called Clarity "one of the most fiercely beloved rock 'n' roll records of the last decade. It is name-checked by every single contemporary emo band as their favorite album, as a mind-bending milemarker that proved that punk rock could be tuneful, emotional, wide-ranging, and ambitious." William Goodman of Spin described it as a "benchmark emo and pop-punk classic". Clarity has appeared on various best-of emo album lists, including those by Kerrang!, LA Weekly, Louder, Loudwire, Rolling Stone, and Treblezine, as well as by journalists Leslie Simon and Trevor Kelley in their book Everybody Hurts: An Essential Guide to Emo Culture (2007). Songs from the album have appeared on best-of emo songs lists by NME, and Vulture. The 2007 re-release was included on Stylus Magazine list of that year's best reissues.

Clarity has influenced the works of multiple artists and bands, such as Something Corporate, the Wonder Years, Josh Farro of Paramore, Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional, Julien Baker, Pronoun, Jonathan Corley of Manchester Orchestra, and Heath Saraceno of Midtown. Trombino gained a lot of producer work thanks to Clarity, with bands wanting to make albums that sounded similar to that release. The Starting Line employed him to produce their debut studio album Say It Like You Mean It (2002) as all of their members' all-time favorite album was Clarity. Polar Bear Club posted a cover of "Lucky Denver Mint" on their Myspace profile in 2009, while the Color Morale covered "Blister" for their EP Artist Inspiration Series (2017).

Track listing

All songs written by Jimmy Eat World. All recordings produced by Mark Trombino and Jimmy Eat World.

Jimmy Eat World

Jim Adkins – lead vocals (all except track 11), guitar; Farfisa (tracks 3 and 13), Vox Continental (track 4), Hammond B3 (tracks 5 and 13), bass guitar (track 7), Casiotone (tracks 7 and 9), piano (tracks 8 and 10), percussion (tracks 10 and 12), backing vocals (track 11), string arrangement
Rick Burch – bass guitar (all except track 7)
Zach Lind – drums (all except track 7), vibraphone (tracks 1 and 13), glockenspiel (tracks 1, 5 and 13), tubular bells (track 1), concert bass drum (track 1) programming (track 7), percussion (track 9)
Tom Linton – guitar (all except tracks 1 and 7), piano (track 9), lead vocals (track 11)

Additional musicians

Suzie Katayama – cello (tracks 1, 5 and 9), string arrangement
Mark Trombino – programming (tracks 2, 7, 9 and 13), ReBirth (track 5), Farfisa (track 7), Minimoog (track 8), percussion sequencing (tracks 8 and 10), percussion (track 13), string arrangement
Joel Derouin – violin (track 5)

Production

Mark Trombino – producer, engineer, mixing
Jimmy Eat World – producer
Nick Raskulinecz – assistant engineer
Ron Rivera – assistant engineer
Justin Smith – assistant engineer
Dean Fisher – assistant engineer
Brian Gardner – mastering
Evren Göknar – 2007 reissue mastering
Paul Drake – photography
Chrissy Piper – photography, portrait photography
Jason Gnewikow – photography
Jim Adkins – art direction
Collection Agency – design

Charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+Chart performance for Clarity

! Chart (1999–2001) !! Peak position

References

Citations

Sources

External links

Clarity (expanded version) at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)