Jack Johnson: From Here to Now to You

Phillip Booth on September 17, 2013

Jack Johnson’s music has always had a righteous vibe and From Here to Now to You, produced by Mario Caldato Jr. (Johnson’s On and On and In Between Dreams, Super Furry Animals, Beastie Boys) isn’t an exception. Recorded at Johnson’s Mango Tree studio in Hawaii, it’s organic, laidback and chilled to perfection—mildly memorable ditties, built on unassuming acoustic-electric guitar textures and ambling grooves as hypnotic as the sound of the waves lapping against the beach on the surfer’s native Oahu. This time, the songs focus on domestic bliss—more or less—starting with “I Got You,” a love song for his wife, mother to their three children. “I don’t need nothing more than you, I got everything,” he sings over soft-rock rhythms, sliding guitars peeking through and whistling thrown in with no extra charge. Birds chirp in the background on closer “Home,” as its narrator yearns to get back to tend to his garden, err, family. In between are similarly tinted tunes, including the wordplay-laden “Shot Reverse Shot,” inspired in part by Johnson’s filmmaking work; the nostalgia-spiked “Tape Deck” (“we sounded folk but we wanted to be punk”); and “You Remind Me of You,” for his daughter.

Artist: Jack Johnson
Album: From Here to Now to You
Label: Island/Republic