Can Emo Go Pop? Two New Albums

by Stefan M. Beck

Last winter, at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, New Jersey, I had the privilege of speaking with a very drunk Tim Kinsella, front-man of the legendary Chicago emo and math-rock outfits Cap’n Jazz, Joan of Arc, Tim Kinsellas, and, most recently, Owls.

Thanks to Kinsella’s impaired mental state, he thought nothing of pulling out his Discman and playing me something that, until that moment, only his band had heard: the Owls LP (Jade Tree), which was recorded and engineered by Steve Albini (The Pixies, Nirvana) and released July 31 of this year.

Tim’s master disc didn’t yet have a vocal track on it, but it was clearly great. It represents the reunion of Cap’n Jazz (minus backing guitarist Davey von Bohlen), a band whose sound prompted kids in basements all over Chicagoland to rock out with pawn-shop guitars and basses.

But while Cap’n Jazz were prized for their angry, inarticulate shrieking, sloppy guitars, and blistering cover of the Norwegian trio A-Ha’s "Take On Me," their new incarnation sounds like it got shot with a tranquilizer dart. Victor Villareal’s delicate, carefully woven guitar patterns wrap themselves neatly around Kinsella’s subdued vocals, which rarely erupt into his characteristic yelps and screams.

Kinsella has grown up a lot since Cap’n Jazz broke up in 1995. He led his second band, the math-rock experiment Joan of Arc, through four critically acclaimed albums and a couple EPs. Tim’s brother Mike, who played drums in Cap’n Jazz before playing in Joan of Arc and eventually forming American Football, has clearly honed his chops. He doesn’t show off in the songs on this album, instead focusing on subtlety and rhythmic nuance.

Apart from having matured musically, Kinsella seems to have undergone something of a personality change on this album. In the Hoboken basement where I first heard Owls, Tim explained to me that the music he wrote for Joan of Arc was "pretty much all just ‘I-love-you-N—’ music," referring to a much-missed ex-girlfriend whose name, he showed me, was tattooed prominently on his chest.

It was a bittersweet moment: bitter because there’s something pretty sad about a grown man pining for a girl he dated about six years ago, and sweet because it perfectly sums up the emo ethic. It’s pretty much all just ‘I-love-you-(insert name here)’ music. It’s music about girls and about feelings, more deeply rooted in sincerity than in angst, which is why it has lasted so long and is pretty hard to laugh at.

But Owls lacks the straightforwardly sad ambiance of so much of Kinsella’s music. Instead of staples like regret, disappointment, and anger, some of the songs ring with unfamiliar notes of disgust and resignation. On the opening track, "What Whorse You Rode Id On," Kinsella sings, over and over again, "Anything I can mistake in the dark for being what I’m looking for is good enough for me," and then, "No longer soft as water must mean never was so."

Other beautiful but troubled, troubling songs include "Anyone Can Have a Good Time," "Holy F-cking Ghost," and "I Want the Blindingly Cute to Confide in Me." These feature Kinsella’s trademark cryptic lyrics, as well as an unsettling moment of self-loathing: "And each morning I know I’ll be no good come night. And each night all I know is I’ll be no good come morning."

The album isn’t all brooding, though. On the brightly instrumented, up-tempo "Everyone Is My Friend," Tim sings, "…it’s not impossible to think of you thinking of me. May we all make it home safely." And the rolling, rocking "Life in the Hair Salon-Themed Bar on the Island" features Kinsella screaming with new confidence, "I’m over and I’m out! Loud and I’m clear!" These words mark the triumphant return of the boys who started it all.

Davey von Bohlen, of Cap’n Jazz splinter-faction The Promise Ring, doesn’t play on Owls. He does, however, make a surprise vocal appearance on another recent release: emo blockbuster Bleed American (DreamWorks Records) by Phoenix-based Jimmy Eat World.

Von Bohlen sings on "A Praise Chorus," the album’s second track, which pays lyrical homage to his band, as well as to Tommy James ("Crimson and Clover"), Madness ("Our House"), Bad Company ("Rock and Roll Fantasy"), and They Might Be Giants ("Don’t Let’s Start"). The song is among the best of the album, which is stuffed to the gills with potential radio hits.

The title track and opener "Bleed American" sets off the furious rock without preamble as Jim Adkins sings, "I’m not alone because the TV’s on / I’m not crazy because I take the right pills every day." There is much guitar shredding to be had here; there are also the surprising, inventive dynamics and melodies fans have come to expect from Jimmy Eat World.

The best songs on the album (apart from "A Praise Chorus," which is sure to become a classic) are "The Authority Song" and the quieter, more reserved "Cautioners." The former features beautiful vocals by Rachel Haden, of the band That Dog. (Her singing also goes a little way toward improving the melancholy, tedious "My Sundown," which — how cute — closes the album.) The latter has an odd, halting drum-and-bass-line that sounds like something from the underground levels in Super Mario Brothers. It also has lyrics that are quintessentially emo: "You know I’m thinking of you / I miss you / You’ll change your mind come Monday and / turn your back on me."

Ultimately, Bleed American turns out like The Velvet Underground’s Loaded. It’s an album so loaded down with brilliant, poppy hits that it gets crushed under its own weight. It doesn’t have the same staying power as the band’s earlier releases, Static Prevails and Clarity, because, although it offers you plenty of opportunities to belt out cool lyrics, drum on your dashboard, or play air guitar, it doesn’t leave you with too much to think about. Besides, with lyrics like "we once walked out on the beach / and once I almost touched your hand," it is sometimes difficult to tell whether we should cringe or burst out laughing.

This summer gave the music world a choice between the band that made emo great and the band that may succeed in landing emo on Total Request Live. Die-hard fans of Jimmy Eat World had reason to cringe when they saw Blink-182 front-man Mark Hoppus’s name in the liner notes’ ‘special thanks’ section. Jimmy Eat World played Hoppus’s wedding, and the band has recently toured with Blink-182. As good as many of the songs are on Bleed American, there isn’t a single one that would sound out of place following up a canned pop-punk hit on the radio. These songs just don’t live up to the band’s earlier masterpieces, or its B-sides, for that matter.

Owls and Bleed American are both solid summer albums. But if you’re more interested in a record you won’t be sick of by the time the leaves start changing, stick with the Chicago boys. They know how emo is done best. After all, they invented it.