I'm curious if anyone else here listens to them. Personally, I really enjoy their straightforward style, both musically and lyrically. They are your typical American rock band, but they do it quite well. They also have a very strong stage presence, but they do seem to prefer intimate venues and the festival circuit.
Their singer and main guitar player has a signature model of Fender Telecaster Thinline (called JA-90 Jim Adkins) which is currently at #1 position in my list of "guitars I will buy one day".
I think our MattG is quite a big fan of them. I'm not, but they are alright.
Enormous fan, here. Was lucky enough to catch them on their short anniversary tour of Futures, where they played the album all the way through. Incredible night.
Review on the fly, slightly drunk at the moment. You With Me is an excellent opener, can't object anything to it. Superb. Sure And Certain and It Matters are much more mediocrestandard. Pretty Grids picks up the good pace again, and Pass The Baby is incredible (that break and rebirth at 3:40... wow). Get Right is forgettable. You Are Free will appeal to our forum mates as it has a very U2 00's sound. The End Is Beautiful sounds totally like The Fray, but despite that is a beautifully painful song, everyone can easily relate to it I think. Through is another excellent song, very nice contrast between verses and choruses/breaks. Integrity Blues gives name to the album and could have been the closer as it has a very "ending" feel, slow atmospherical start with the organs and reverberant vocals. Pol Roger is the album closer instead, and what a closer. Pol Roger is a brand of champagne and, accordingly, the song has a champagne spray feeling. Brilliant. Overall a very good album, quite possibly the first I've listened to them from first to last song, and will be doing a few more these upcoming days.
Honestly it's fantastic. The songwriting feels the most genuine and relatable since 2004 with the Futures album. Futures is a lot darker, and this album seems a lot more introspective.
Funny enough, "Through" was not supposed to be included on the album and it just might be my favorite song. That one, Sure and Certain, and Pol Roger are all great.
I'm glad to see they've got some fans here on this site. This band first caught my attention when they came to perform at a festival hosted by UCSD and I've had the chance to see them at a few more festivals since then.
I also got the privilege of seeing them at The Roxy this past Sunday and my god if you have a chance to see them perform in a small venue like that you absolutely have to do it! Absolutely amazing evening with a truly die-hard crowd where everyone knew the lyrics to every song on the set, even some of the new releases from Integrity Blues.
Speaking of Integrity Blues, I had it on pre-order and ended up listening to it nonstop once it downloaded onto my iTunes. I enjoyed my first listening entirely, no song that I immediately felt like skipping. You with Me, Through, and You Are Free are my personal favorites, but as I said before the entire album was a pleasurable experience.
Currently I'm sorting through pictures I took from the Roxy, so I'll try posting some of those up later. Also, Jimmy Eat World will be on Jimmy Kimmel tonight, so maybe expect and interview and a few performances.
