To the Sea

To the Sea is the fifth studio album by singer-songwriter Jack Johnson, released on May 26, 2010, in Japan, May 31, 2010 in the United Kingdom and June 1, 2010, in the United States, through Universal Republic Records and Brushfire Music Group. The album debuted at number 1 in the United States, selling 243,000 copies in its first week. Background and recording On January 19, 2010, Johnson and his band reported that they had entered the studio to begin work on a new album, and on February 1, the band announced that their currently untitled fifth studio album was slated for a June 1 release, to be followed by a world tour. The album was recorded over three weeks in Johnson's two solar-powered studios, The Mango Tree in Hawaii and the Solar Powered Plastic Plant in Los Angeles. To the Sea was released on Johnson's own label, Brushfire Records, with the first single, "You and Your Heart", already released on radio and iTunes. In the album, Johnson used more instruments than before like electric guitar, organ, Wurlitzer and Mellotron. Johnson said of the album's title "I guess it's a reference to a father leading his son to the sea, with the water representing the subconscious. So it's about trying to go beneath the surface and understand yourself". Critical reception {{Album ratings | rev1 = AllMusic | rev1score = | rev2 = Blare Magazine | rev2score = | rev3 = Entertainment Weekly | rev3score = B | rev4 = The Guardian | rev4score = | rev5 = The Independent | rev5score = | rev6 = NU.nl | rev6score = | rev7 = Rolling Stone | rev7score = | rev8 = MusicOMH| rev8score = | rev9 = Ultimate Guitar| rev9score = 9.3/10 }} At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 69, based on 12 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".