"I
can't tell you anything but the truth." These words, sung by Jack Johnson
in his latest studio album, To The Sea, define the ethos of a man born and raised
in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
You could say it was a father's solo
sail from California to Hawaii that opened his son's future fate and underpinned
it with a personal mythology, but it was Jack's ability to learn his own lessons
from life and the sea that birthed his astonishing alchemy of music and poetry.
Truth
has found plenty of room to breathe in each of Jack's albums (and in all of his
work, from surfing films to his nonprofit, the Kokua Hawaii Foundation), and it
comes home to a deeper heart in To The Sea. Here, with his brothers in music -
Adam Topol (drums), Merlo Podlewski (bass), and Zach Gill (piano and melodica)
- he's on a journey to the center of himself, and to all of us.
It's a transformational
crossing, a wide gyre (musically and lyrically) circling home. "You and your
heart shouldn't feel so far apart," he sings in the album's opener …
and then:
Road signs were stolen Left here holding this flame Who stole
my patience Who stole my way I'm lost I'm too tired to try
Jack is all about
closing the distance, bridging the gap between who we are and the invisible stories
that have shaped us. But even while his music is about bringing things together,
he always seems aware of the larger truth:
You're so sweet to me In a world
that's not always fair … We could watch it from the clouds We can't stop
it anyhow It's not ours
It's not ours … and then there's the realization
that all of this is transient, that this moment and this time will vanish from
our lives as surely as our ancestors:
I don't want you to know Let's not
go to sleep tonight It's not that it goes too fast It's just that it goes at all
Out there in the so-called real world, some things are inevitable:
These
problems they breathe Their fire is real … Even when you're asleep They'll
be here still Breathing out or in
So the call is to dig deep, and then dig
deeper:
Run my dear son We've got to get to the trees And then keep on going
all the way …
We've got to get right down to the sea
"Water
is the subconscious," says Jack, "and that water for me is the ocean.
To get to the sea is being able to dig in and touch things that aren't on the
surface. That reference - that 'we've got to get to the sea' - is about a father
leading his son to try to understand himself."
Inevitably, each of
us is here to follow our own path, to discover the inner myths that have unconsciously
formed us and framed our journey:
It said, shadows cut across the hero's
face He falls from grace until a little bird sang
'The truth is never ending
we're just here pretending lets all laugh so that we don't cry' …
Jack's
music has a way of winning you over and bringing you back into yourself, which
is to say that his music and lyrics have a universality. He's found a language
that goes to the heart, borne on music that seems to bridge lost connections.
If not exactly explaining, this effect at least points to his worldwide appeal
and his way of bringing all sorts of people together. Jack Johnson's music is
like something contagious that's also good for you.
So … there's a
myth about a young man who goes to sea, and he sails alone across the greatest
ocean. He sails through storms. He catches fish, he learns to navigate by the
stars … he comes to Hawaii … and he has a son, and the son, too, goes
to the sea … again and again, following and leading … into the present
… into the very real and unknown.
I can't tell you anything but the
truth. What is this place? Who am I? Why did we come here? I don't know. But I
don't know that we're meant to know. - Drew Kampion, 2010
Pre-order
a copy of Jack Johnson's 'To The Sea' here!
'To The Sea'
is available now.
