Jukebox the Ghost – Everything Under the Sun (A Review)

I have been a fan of Jukebox the Ghost for some time now (about 2 years actually), and have listened to their debut album a couple dozen times. I never thought I would hear a more complete and fun-loving album ever again – I should have anticipated them outdoing themselves in their next try. Their sophomore album Everything Under the Sun is everything I could ask for and then some. Just when I thought I couldn’t love this band anymore – it’s as if this album is their answer to that.

The first track is Schizophrenic, which starts off racing and lets you know you’re listening to a band that likes to have fun with their music. I defy you to not dance around your room right along with this opening number. I could almost feel the energy fill the room as the song progressed.

After a few fun dance numbers, they slow it down a bit with Summer Sun. Even still, there is a quiet energy still present. It is like a breath of fresh air after you’ve been dancing in the rain. It picks right back up and rushes into the next track, Mistletoe. One of the things I have always loved about this band is how well their first album blended together. Each track seemed to have some connection to the ones surrounding it. Even some of my favorite artists have one or two songs in their albums I can usually skip, but that is not true with Jukebox. Every song adds something special and would be missed in the overall listening experience of the album as a whole. Some artists give you singles – this band gives you albums. You can tell a lot of care and attention has gone into choosing each song to make it fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. That level of attention is part of what makes their music special. It also makes it very hard for me to choose a favorite song. You know that feeling when your favorite song come on and you say, “Oh, I love that song!”? Well I should probably just say, “I love that band!” because I do. I love them a lot. Does that make me biased in writing this review? Possibly. So here’s the challenge for you – listen for yourself and tell me I’m wrong, that my excitement over this new album coming out is misplaced. If you make it through the whole album without smiling once, well then I will consider myself corrected.

Everything Under the Sun is currently available for pre-order & will be released Sept 7th. The band just announced this morning they will be on Dave Letterman tonight, so take advantage of this chance to get a free preview. Their next New York date will be Sept 16th at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Your humble blogger will be the one in the front taking a million pictures, dancing like there’s no tomorrow, and congratulating the band after on continuing to be awesome.