A Day on the River

On the way to go tubing in the Comal River this past weekend, I fittingly listened to Jack Johnson's album To The Sea. Not much on my iPod seemed much more appropriate than that album when I was about to spend four hours floating down a river with friends, drinks, and fun. This situation and album are a perfect example of the point of this blog. Music is meant for specific events. When I was back in Boston in the spring, I couldn't listen to To The Sea because it was too summery. The light, summery feeling that accompanies songs on the album like "At or With Me" and "Pictures of People Taking Pictures" disabled me from listening to music that evoked such feelings when the long winter had just ended, and the sun was still perpetually kept captive behind the clouds. Moreover, the carefree emotions and easy going riffs in "You and Your Heart" and "From the Clouds" didn't mesh with the stress of school. Music is an auditory expression that fits with the feelings of myself at the moment, so listening to this album would be like wearing a tuxedo to mass on Sunday, awkward and uncomfortable. The first time in the spring semester of class in Boston that I was able to fill my ears with To the Sea was after my last final. The sun was out (surprisingly), and not much felt better than knowing I was done with my classes. Summer--On. To the Sea--On. While the tubing adventure and post-finals were pretty appropriate for the album, the perfect time for the album happened last summer. I spent everyday for a couple of weeks on the beach or boating into the nautical abyss. Separated from everything with only the ocean around me, what could be more fitting than Jack's song "Only the Ocean"? That song, along with "To the Sea" and "Turn Your Love" had just the right amount of mellow sound (although the guitar in "To the Sea"is so raw, especially the solo!), aquatic themes, and rhythms that seem to flow with  the water. Within those weeks on the ocean, "To the Sea" was my go-to album. It was rugged and unrefined. It was poppy and light. It was the ocean, and more importantly, it was my life during those weeks. Although it was the perfect album for that time of my life and other water adventures, I find myself skipping over it and going instead to Sleep Through the Static or In Between Dreams when I have my fix of Jack Johnson. Simply put, it does not have the everyday "playability" (unless you live in So Cal) like his other albums. From the beginning, Jack didn't want to create a "surfer sound" so that his music wouldn't be confined to a certain style or demographic, and he had done well until To the Sea. This album encompasses the surfer and ocean mood with the instruments, melodies, and lyrics. While it is not a bad album, there is a reason that I listen to this album the least of all Jack's albums. There is also a reason that he didn't want to create surfer music, but he didn't stick to that plan here (much to my dismay). We all make mistakes, so hopefully Jack has learned his lesson with this album.



This video for "You and Your Heart," the first single off of the album, sums the album up very quickly.