Jukebox the Ghost: All Bubbles to Dark Themes

Prior to Safe Travels, Jukebox the Ghost had two albums - Let Live and Let Ghosts (2008), and Everything Under the Sun (2010). Both of the former albums provide danceable and lighthearted music with creative lyrics that stem more from imagination than reality. Both lyricists, guitarist Tommy Siegel and pianist Ben Thornewill, wrote creatively and fictionally, with subjects ranging from the Apocalypse ("Fire in the Sky," "Where are all the Scientists Now?," and "A Matter of Time") to mental disorders ("Schizophrenia" and "Half-Crazy").

With Safe Travels, Siegel and Thornewill delve within their personal experiences and construct deeper meanings than before. Songs on the album are still danceable and have pop-quality catchiness, but there is still a darkness to these songs. Examples include "Everybody Knows”, a song filled with regret but also a need to move on, and "Ghosts in Empty Houses", a song about existentialism. The sadness within the music is buried within the lyrics, but the bright melodies and upbeat drums give the song hope that the lyrics do not provide. There's a delicate balance that Jukebox the Ghost constructs between a world-weary narrator and a catchy melody.

Towards the end of the album, Jukebox the Ghost has added ballads to their upbeat tracks, and the album ends with “The Spiritual”, in which the narrator is begging God for a less troublesome life. Safe Travels seems to grow more serious as the upbeat is overtaken by the slow. The end of the album leaves a somber silence as the piano resonates, a sad but calm emptiness that depicts their growth as musicians. No longer does everything seem to have to break out into fast tempos and fictional narrators; Jukebox the Ghost has become comfortable in a quiet ending.

The album feels richer with the reality displayed in the lyrics combined with the major-key melodies, the exposure of the writers' vulnerability, and a fuller sound from the strong presence of drums. Jukebox the Ghost has grown, creating a balance through the slow and upbeat that does not seem to exist within the last two albums. Rather than just creating fun, danceable music, they've created an album that gives others hope, whether it is in finding love or recovering from a loss.