For those of you who are just being introduced to My Morning Jacket, the band is a Louisville-based alt-rock group of five with a subtle psychedelic undertone and a penchant for genre sampling. Band members Jim James (vocals/guitar), Tom Blankenship (bass), Carl Broemel (guitar), Patrick Hallahan (drums), and Bo Koster (keyboards) have been making music together for over twenty-five years. For this album, they are coming back with a new producer, Brendan O’Brien (see: Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam), to help them expand on their sound.
We were lucky enough at Indy Review to get an advanced listen to the album. I noticed when listening to this album that a variety of flavors expressed themselves. Because all music is contextual, we as humans like to relate new sounds to sounds we already know. Association is key to the process of musical perception. It is how genres connect and bleed into one another, how voices and styles remind us of other bands, and other signatures. But at the same time, each artist is always at the center of their own Venn diagram.
The first song of is, “Out in the Open” has a ukulele rhythm that helps you sink into the music and get ready for the ride. It is reminiscent of LCD Soundsystem’s “Get Innocuous” in that it offers a rhythmic hypnosis that drops you into the container of music listening. James’ vocal quality is kindred to that of TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe. There is a nice invisible string there for those who love one may also love the other.
“I Can Hear Your Love” has an antique quality to it. There is almost this feeling of the song Dirty Dancing made famous, “Love is Strange” by Mickey & Silvia. The way James sings “Baby” evokes a delightful Jennifer Grey lip sync at a bosky cabin in upstate New York. “Time Waited” opens with a nice Charlie Brown Piano opener. It has the feeling of light fluffy snow falling on the music. When the melodies begin to loop, it starts to feel really good.
“Lemme Know” begins with what sounds like a diorama hanging above a crib. When the fullness of the song drops in, it has a bit of a James Bond energy to it. It feels like something Miike Snow would turn into a crazy music video. And then “Squid Ink” offers a fun little blues-rock vibe ala Black Keys energy. One could imagine losing themselves completely to this song in a crowd of people dancing. The breakdown riffs on the guitar at the end are primo and transcendental.
“Die For It” is very fun and trippy. It has a bit of a Pink Floyd vibe with lots of ethereal vocals that have been warped to create a spacey and heavenly feeling. To close out the album, “River Road” digs into some minor chords and offers a fun repeated lyric “Ready set go, down on River Road.” It evokes more of an old western feel, like it could be a song featured on an updated version of the Paul Newman classic film, “The Sting.”
With all this variety, I was puzzled trying to figure out how the album is also perfectly cohesive. The album has a general theme of creating beautifully hypnotic and varied loops that entrance the listener and then display James’ lovely voice. Within that structure, they tease at other sounds. Kind of like they are the sun, and their songs have solar flares, which create these different shapes and colors for us to enjoy as the tracks move from one to the next.
All in all, is is a delightful ride and you can give it a listen when it come out Friday! Listen to the pre-released tracks here.
The Indy Review 
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