Futures

1	Futures 3:58
2	Just Tonight 3:26
3	Work 3:23
4	Kill 3:48
5	The World You Love 5:01
6	Pain 3:01
7	Drugs or Me 6:25
8	Polaris 4:51
9	Nothingwrong 3:09
10	Night Drive 5:03
11	23 9:55

Barnes & Noble

Over the course of the past several years, this foursome have made their mark through vivid emotion -- even though they'd prefer not to be tagged as "emo" -- and catchy choruses. Those elements are still in evidence on Futures, Jimmy Eat World's fourth full-length release, but they're joined by a jolting sense of confidence, both in frontman Jim Adkins's delivery and in some surprisingly fully realized big-rock arrangements. That combination is crucial in driving home the poignancy of the title track, on which Adkins's soaring vocals are matched by a stuttering, spacious rhythm that underscores the song's yearning. The band push things even further on the six-minute "Drugs or Me," which builds from a breathy, piano-kissed beginning to an atmosphere of woozy psychedelia that wouldn't be out of place on a vintage Pink Floyd album. Shot through with cinematic strings, "23" has a similarly ornate feel to it, but there are enough body-centric moments (not unlike Pornography-era Cure) to retain interest. A few of the disc's tracks -- the wide-eyed "Work," for instance -- stick to J.E.W.'s long-established formula of overlaying sensitive-guy finger-picking with a veneer of skater-guy attitude. But by disc's end, it's clear that Jimmy Eat World have no qualms about growing up and no desire to loll in rock's potentially endless adolescence. David Sprague

All Music Guide

The massive success of Jimmy Eat World's 2001 Bleed American propelled the band into the mass-culture spotlight, with the hit single "The Middle" seemingly popping up in every third movie released and the group turning in an energized performance on Saturday Night Live. Many, many groups followed in their wake, crafting a similar blend of melodic, anguished punk-pop and leaving Jimmy Eat World in the position of crafting a follow-up that set them apart from their acolytes. Futures gets around this dilemma in two ways. First, with the help of producer Gil Norton, the band polishes its sound until it shines like a slick '70s arena rock record. The guitars are stacked like thick diamonds, the vocals are way out front and buttressed by sweet harmonies in the choruses, the drums sound large, and the mix is loaded with sweetening from acoustic guitars, keyboards, and female vocals. In the process, they sacrificed the immediacy of the previous record, but they gained an epic and weighty feel. Secondly, the lyrics are much darker and more mature, including themes that revolve around politics, drugs, and despair. The piano-and-feedback ballad "Drugs or Me" and the bittersweet love song "Night Drive" are the products of age and experience the band lacked until now. The best song on the record, the very Disintegration-era Cure-sounding "23," seems like it was recorded by a different group entirely. Some things have remained the same, however. Jim Adkins' vocals are as intense and heart-tugging as ever, and the band still writes hooks that will have you singing along before the song is half over. "Just Tonight," "Futures," and the AC/DC-sampling "Pain" are all trademark Jimmy Eat World punky pop/rockers with anthemic choruses, while "The World You Love" and "Work" display the sweetly melodic side of the band. There are a couple of stumbles (the decision to replace Petra Haden's charming vocals with Liz Phair's, the generic "Nothingwrong"), but they don't detract from the overall power of the record. Futures will most likely not be the sensation that Bleed American was -- it is too dark and inwardly focused for that -- but it shows a progression of sound and emotion that fans of the band should embrace. Tim Sendra

Rolling Stone

1/2 When they do teen angst as handsomely as they do it on Futures, who needs an adult side? Rob Sheffield