Jack's Mannequin
Everything in Transit (Maverick)
Nashville-based rising pop trio Moody Joody told us about their love for a Jack's Mannequin gem...
Andrew Pacheco: Everything in Transit is one of those rare albums from my youth that isn’t tied up in just one specific time, memory, or relationship. Somehow it’s managed to stick with me throughout my entire life, and still sounds as fresh at 29 as it did when my friends and I were blasting “Holiday From Real” on our way to the Jersey Shore on the last day of 5th grade. There’s no denying how much this record has influenced my writing and sonic palette. The way the synths and electronic elements intersect with dynamic, emotional live instrumentation is a blueprint that’s forever ingrained in my musical DNA.
It was one of the first records I heard that made me understand what it means to create a “world” within an album. When you press play, you’re living in a heartbroken West Coast summer for 45 minutes. I hadn’t even been to California when I heard it for the first time, but it made me feel like I had. And that taught me a lot about how to translate feelings and words into sonic imagery.
Kaitie Forbes: This album was such a highlight in my early teen years. Whether it was 7 a.m. on the school bus, looking out the window listening on my mini green iPod, or laying on my bedroom floor listening on repeat, playing & singing Bruised on the piano, or on a family beach vacation in SoCal, I was listening. I remember a specific memory of being in Newport Beach, CA with my family & making everyone sit down in the living room and playing the album for them start to finish haha. I was so passionate about it then, and listening to it as an adult now, I realize how ahead of its time it feels. It still strikes a chord for me, and takes me to this nostalgic safe place that I love. It’ll always be an album I circle back to.
Kayla Hall: My older sister is the one that first showed me Jack’s Mannequin. I vividly remember screaming Dark Blue at the top of my lungs in my sister’s silver jeep liberty peeling in and out of my high school parking lot. My older sister was always finding the cool indie / alt bands and showing them to me. It’s such a fond memory of adolescent youth where we’d burn CD’s and jam out together driving around the suburbs of St. Louis. As a band we got the chance to see Jack’s Mannequin play in Nashville all together in 2025 and getting to scream dark blue together is a core memory.
Moody Joody's "Little Blue House" is out now. An album is due later this year.
