Sleep Through the Static

Jack Johnson，从未想要成为超级巨星。他有他的道理跟坚持。 2001年起，发行三张个人专辑和四张电影原声带（三部衝浪+一部动画），唱片公司大老闆摸不著头绪，这个衝浪选手怎会一次比一次畅销，签约金立刻加两倍，然后杰克强森也立刻退回：”用钱买人买歌的想法，令我不安。“还好大老闆有慧根，改成一张空白合约：“尊重你的一切决定。”这才唤回杰克强森，让他能安心创作。 安心创作，说来可不简单。首先，他成立自己的音乐厂牌 Brushfire Records，广邀同好 Matt Costa、ALO 等创作歌手加入，不让环球高层乾预任何音乐製作；然后，他在夏威夷的自宅盖起名为“芒果树”录音室，屋顶舖满太阳能版 (专辑内附小册有图为证)，以太阳能发电录製专辑，不用耗电的电脑录音软体, 不断彩排演唱新歌，然后一气呵成将歌曲录製在盘带上，另外，再详加确定全世界都採用百分百再生纸印製专辑。 取之於大自然，用之於好音乐，一个人的坚持，让全世界找回音乐最初的感动与美好。杰克强森第四张个人专辑 ，让人佩服的五体投地。 伴奏乐团除了老班底 Adam Topol (鼓)、Merlo Podlewski (贝斯) 外，正式将巡迴伙伴 Zach Gill (键盘) 纳入编制，并与首张专辑 製作人 JP Plunier 再度合作。随著年纪增长、世事变迁，他明白人生不可能随时都遇见完美的浪，於是他的全新故事里有风雨、有巨浪、也有阳光，”有些歌是关於小孩，有些是描述他们成长的这个世界：充满了战争、但也有爱与仇恨。还有些是向我所爱的人们道别，以及对他们的思念。“ 首支单曲 "If I Had Eyes"，杰克强森用歌声唱出朋友面对感情的纷乱情绪，更找来他三岁儿子 Moe 帮忙唱合音；专辑开场曲 "All At Once" 提醒大家动身为我们生活的地球尽份心力，而专辑同名曲 "Sleep Through The Static" 则对现今世界的战争提出反思。这是杰克强森，用他的力量在改变世界，你呢？ Much of the press surrounding the release of Sleep Through the Static recounted Jack Johnson's claim that he gave all his peppy pop tunes over to the Curious George soundtrack and how that, combined with personal losses — including the death of his cousin Danny Riley, to whom the album is dedicated — led the surfing singer/songwriter into darker territory for his fifth album. To a certain extent, all of that is true, as the album does open with an atypically stark, moody number in "All at Once" and there are some darker sentiments lurking within the 14 songs here, but it takes some close listening to find the sorrow flowing through some of the words. Some very close listening, really, as Johnson's sand-brushed, gentle voice doesn't command attention. His voice lulls and soothes, so it takes concentrated effort to hear beyond his tone and hear what he's actually saying. Then again, the meaning of Johnson's music doesn't matter as much as the mellow mood, a feeling that he's sustained throughout his albums and doesn't change here. Johnson may use more electric guitars than acoustics on Sleep Through the Static, but he's strumming them like acoustics and his overall aesthetic has not changed at all: he's still a laid-back guy singing songs that roll so easy they glide into the background. No matter what instrument he's playing or what he's singing about, his music still feels the same, which is enough to satisfy his fans but not to win him many new ones.