Integrity Blues (Dine Alone/RCA), Jimmy Eat World’s ninth full-length record, is a solid enough return to form after a few lackluster releases.

Though the Arizona band may never recapture the rhapsodic spunkiness of its early years, this latest release finds the members adjusting well to their senior emo status with reliably punchy dynamics and enough rhythmic experimentation to show that success has not left them complacent.

This may be the same crisp pop rock the band has released since its earliest days — or, some may argue, its 2001 breakout record, Bleed American — but unlike 2010’s Invented and 2013’s “adult breakup record” Damage, the record doesn’t feel half-hearted.

Melodies and guitar riffs charge with ceremonious compactness, and vocalist-guitarist Jim Adkins seems settled into the emotive role required of the leader of a band of Jimmy Eat World’s stature, even if it means spiking up the drama even more than usual. It is far from their best, but is definitely the band’s best since 2004’s Futures.

It’s not a surprise that Jimmy Eat World has gone on this long. In a 1998 interview, a few years before the band’s emo-driven genre broke into the mainstream, Adkins professed a career-minded perspective.

This is certainly why the band has pretty much stuck to an increasingly middle-of-the-road songwriting approach. Perhaps now the band realizes its fan base is secure enough to stick with it through anything, or perhaps the band’s members simply grew out of their own album-oriented rock emo slumber; whatever it is, it drives Integrity Blues’ sense of purpose.

Justin Meldal-Johnsen’s crisp production also shows how far the band has progressed, sustaining a strong sheen throughout and employing a good amount of studio trickery to spice up the arrangements. This is certainly the result of what began with Bleed American, but it may play a major part in how comfortable older punk/emo (are there still any?) fans of the band will be in listening to the record.

Without that concern, though, the record shines in all its mainstream rock glory. Opener “You With Me” is all glossed out with angelic “ahhhs” and hopping drums. Adkins — along with guitarist Tom Linton, bassist Rick Burch and drummer Zach Lind — move with ease from quiet to loud to quiet and loud again, shifting between acoustic verses and singalong choruses with effective immediacy.

“Sure and Certain” starts off with scraggly grunge guitars and moves swiftly onto its crunchy chorus, while “Get Right” does the same with a menacing single-note riff (well, as menacing as Jimmy Eat World can sound, anyway).

“You Are Free” takes back the sparkling guitars that have found their way to many bands influenced by Jimmy Eat World, complete with dramatic refrains of the title and sprightly distortions. It’s by-the-numbers Jimmy Eat World, for sure, but Meldal-Johnson’s production sprinkles a sense of conviction. Not far behind is “You Are Beautiful” — all ghostly piano and Adkins’ hushed tones.

It’s tempting to attach the clichéd “experimentation” tag to the record (as I’m guilty of doing), but it’s a relative term. Meldal-Johnson certainly plays around with various instruments (piano, acoustics) to accentuate sections within each song’s arrangement.

The band, to its credit, extends it tried-and-tested formula somewhat, utilizing breakdowns and additional sections in songs that come relatively unexpected. It’s a fairly simple change of the atmosphere that elevates the band’s songwriting.

There have always been strong choruses in Jimmy Eat World’s universe of reliability, but long have they been this apparent. The reinvigoration here is definitely a byproduct of mainstream production, but it certainly works wonders.

—Marcel Thee

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