Jack Johnson's first new album in five years and ninth overall comes as a wonderful and much needed breath of fresh air, specifically one from the salty beaches off the coast of Hawaii. In collaboration with talented producer and multi-instrumentalist Blake Mills, Meet the Moonlight is one of Jack's best albums and it's his finest work in over a decade. It's also his most realistic representation of a what it's like to be a wave within the moonlit ocean at dusk.
It's quite easy to recognize Jack Johnson's music if you were ever slightly interested in the soft rock and acoustic scene in the mid to late 2000's. As a Hawaii native, surfer, family man, environmentalist and all around great dude, Johnson has been consistent with his laid back, feel good pop tunes with his acoustic guitar and surf board in tow. Ever since his Brushfire Fairytales, In Between Dreams albums and the Curious George soundtrack, he's grown and kept quite the large fanbase without having to reinvent the wheel or garner any hits along his career. That's not to say that he hasn't had any hits since then (he most certainly has) but he hasn't necessarily been exploding in the charts either. After his 2010 album To the Sea (a personal favorite of mine), he's been sort of under the radar to me and to a lot of people... especially since 2013's From Here to Now to You garnered some popularity and traction (even though it was too overproduced for my liking). His last record, 2017's All the Light Above it Too, was so under the radar that I completely forgot it existed until now. In summary, his past few albums aren't anything offensively bad or rough, they just sound like JJ on auto-pilot along with some basic, generic production choices to boot. In my opinion, a new Jack Johnson album hasn't been that interesting or enjoyable to listen to since To the Sea over a decade ago.
Meet the Moonlight, on the other hand, is one of Jack Johnson's best albums to date and his finest album in over a decade. His first new album in five years and ninth overall comes as a wonderful and much needed breath of fresh air, specifically one from the salty beaches off the coast of Hawaii. It's a refreshing listen as an escape from all the bad things going on these past few years. It's also refreshing for longtime listeners wanting something new and different while also wanting some of his most quality performances and songwriting to date. Not only are the songs themselves just great songs from a songwriting and performance standpoint but the production is notably more different than any past Jack Johnson record.
This transitions smoothly to the production side of things, which is the definitely the biggest talking point about this album. Talented producer and multi-instrumentalist Blake Mills collaborated with Jack and contributed to the album heavily, providing much of the instrumentation, writing and production on Meet the Moonlight. Considering Blake Mills' past contributions to albums from artists such as Alabama Shakes, Dawes and Fiona Apple, this comes as a nice surprise to me. Blake Mills can add a lot of color and bombast if he wants or he can approach a simpler, more ambient and minimal sound... similar to that of his recent solo album Mutable Set though not as artsy. He chooses the latter and this is for the best. Light reverb on guitars, blowing on bottles, light synth passages, airy steel drums, and minimal layering all provide a relaxing, chilled out experience that is both lively and organic. These gentle, carefully put together additions make Meet the Moonlight the most realistic representation of a what it's like to be a wave within the moonlit ocean at dusk. As subtle and simple as these ambient and minimal sounds are throughout the album, a little goes a long way for a Jack Johnson album.
For the "feel good" tagline Jack Johnson typically gets with his music, Meet the Moonlight has a certain vulnerability, realness and seriousness to it when it comes to the songwriting and themes. There are calm, thought provoking themes on questioning what is most important to us and how we should appreciate the joys in life, like on the album's opening track "Open Mind" and the album's memorable closer "Any Wonder." "I Tend to Digress" features Jack's best songwriting to date, starting off with very descriptive and poetic questions about life and humanity at a much larger and grander scope. Hearing himself crack up when he sings "listening to birds sing about getting the money's worth" adds a true "in the moment" moment, like many on this album. Lyrically it seems like Jack's been inspired to retrospect his life and perspective along with questioning beliefs and life due to the turmoil and times we've been living in for the past few years. It's certainly brought some of his best writing of his career and he seems to be more passionate at his song craft than ever before.
"One Step Ahead" is the lead single and is one of two upbeat and peppy moments you'll find on the album. With some light organ backing the jumpy guitar strums, booming percussion and eclectic groovy bass, "One Step Ahead" gets better and better with each listen. "Don't Look Now" is the other upbeat song on the album and this one is a universally breezy and sunny Jack Johnson song that could've easily fit on any past album of his. Like I mentioned earlier, the sole percussion on "Costume Party" is just some light blowing on empty bottles. This quirky decision compliments Jack's playful imagery of tears running down one's makeup painted face and costume masks. "Calm Down," a wonderful album highlight, has these swaying and winding slide guitars in a successful attempt to calm the listener down and have their sand covered worries be washed away by the ocean. "Windblown Eyes" has marvelous tones and textures with some light and gentle steel drums playing beneath Jack's warmly cradling vocals.
When listening to the album's title track, its ambient guitar tones are so incredibly immersive and dreamlike that you can easily get sucked in to this song's many wonders. This guitar driven groove is so memorable and inviting that it can be listened to repeatedly over and over and over again. I hope someone will cut this instrumental guitar and make it into a 10 hour loop, please! This song pretty much sums up my thoughts on the entire album in a nutshell. Thanks to Blake Mills the ambient, subtle, and gentle textures, they add so much warmth and dare i say "crunchiness" to this album. This album is so beautiful to listen to. It's ear candy. These details, though subtle, are a necessity in what makes Meet the Moonlight such a standout in Jack Johnson's discography. Not only this but his songwriting and performances are arguably the best and strongest in his career. My only real complaint is that there's only a mere 10 songs at a super quick 36 minutes in total runtime but this gives me more than enough reason to put this album on repeat over and over again. Meet the Moonlight not just meets the expectations of a quality album for Jack, but it surpasses them tenfold. I hope that Blake Mills and Jack Johnson collaborate more in the future because for a JJ album, this is pure fireworks.
My Rating: 8 / 10
Favorite Songs: "Meet the Moonlight," "Calm Down," "Open Mind," "Windblown Eyes," "I Tend to Digress"
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