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Rating: The first time I listened to Jack Johnson I was in Lombok, Indonesia. After a day spent among the waves of the beautiful Indonesian islet and after coating my skin with liters of after-sun oil, I go for a beer in the only venue of the small locality where I am. There are no tourists, only surfers. Everyone knows each other after a couple of days; the same people who serve you drinks are those you'll find tomorrow morning on the small boat that takes you to the coral reef, where the waves break magnificently. Even the impromptu band playing on the small stage made of planks and bamboo is formed by surfers. A group of kids no older than 20. The evening passes in tranquility, relaxation, calm. Everything typically Indonesian.
The watch is just a memory of the frantically Western world I've left behind for a while. The music cradles me throughout the evening between a glass of beer and a chat with new friends from all over the world about improbable journeys and exceptional waves. Only one thing I don't know. I don't know the songs the band is playing.
An Australian guy (whom we jokingly call Sideshow Bob because of his hair) tells me it’s someone named Jack Johnson. The next day, waking up at 6, as always. A banana and honey pancake for breakfast and off on the fishermen's little boat to the reef. In my head, I keep humming the tunes I heard last night... I see Sideshow catching a huge wave and then I understand he's here too. I approach and, after complimenting him on the wave he rode, we arrange a meeting for me to listen to the CDs of this Jack Johnson. Listening done: it's love!
I will buy all his CDs and become JJ dependent for months and months, especially during my Asian stay! Now I'm here, in the living room, on my couch listening to his new CD. The music doesn’t change (as they say). Everything is marvelously the same. The simplicity in creating melodies, the sweetness of the voice. That slightly muted guitar that is a peaceful mix of country and reggae and then his warm and whispered voice. I'm thousands of kilometers away from Indonesia but it feels like being there again, with the sun on my skin and the music in my ears. With the serene soul of someone waiting for his wave to share this moment with his friends, whether they're old friends or just people with whom you've shared a few splendid hours. There's nothing new compared to the previous albums, but that’s exactly what I like!
The guitars have remained acoustic, the rhythms have remained cheerful and playful, the sea breathes behind every single chord. That campfire atmosphere pervades the entire album as it did in previous works, evoking in me memories that time inevitably soothes... The duets are beautiful. Even moving and touching the one with Ben Harper in “With my own two hands”. Jack Johnson’s music is a kind of primordial regression towards that simplicity which in today’s world is replaced by exhausting attention to detail, by having to be the way people want us, perfect in every detail. Jack Johnson lets go, allows from his guitar that child to come out that many of us often keep locked in the closet because they’re ashamed to show it to others, because they're afraid of being considered childish and immature. Jack does not take himself seriously. He knows he’s not a guitar virtuoso, he also knows his voice isn’t Freddie Mercury’s, but he lets his heart speak and gently pluck the strings of his ukulele.
The result is this, a music that takes you directly to the beach, that makes you smile unintentionally, that makes you want to call your friends, that relaxes you while reading the newspaper, creating around you, in your room, a world of sand and shells. I only have one fear, MTV has discovered Jack, and now his single is in rotation in the world’s most prominent music grinder. I hope Jack doesn’t change... but the world is no longer made of dreamers.
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