Every Jimmy Eat World Album: Ranked From Worst To Best
4. Futures (2004)
Regarded as equal parts dark and polished, Futures sounds a bit like an arena rock record for the alt rock set. The riffs are heavier, the themes more brooding, and the choruses are ripe for shout-alongs.
The most impressive thing about Futures is how the band is able to write so many weighty, melancholy songs without making the whole experience a depressing slog - though the gloom does stretch itself a bit thin after the one-two punch of "Drugs or Me" and "Polaris".
Occasional forays into hard rock territory ("Just Tonight", "Nothingwrong", lead single "Pain") help break things up a bit, but it's those straightforward power pop songs like "Work" and "The World You Love" that are most likely to stick in your head and earn repeated listens.
As with so many Jimmy Eat World albums, they really hit their stride - and cop their most significant influences - in the last couple songs. "Night Drive" has a rare, folksy slinkiness to it that could've been pulled from a deep Echo and the Bunnymen cut, while "23" closes out the album with a pitch-perfect homage to The Cure.
Speaking of which, if Clarity's "Goodbye Sky Harbor" showed the band could write a sweeping epic, then "23" proves they're capable of writing their own "November Rain" or "Dream On" if they want to.