By: Geoff Topley
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Released on May 4, 2015 via ATO Records
When I first heard Kentucky’s My Morning Jacket it was purely by accident from a tape recording I’d set up from an Evening Session. The track was ‘Lowdown’ from 2001’s At Dawn album and I had to rewind and play it again. Jim James was possessed of a marvellous voice, angelic almost and it soared with ease in the higher registers. I ventured to see them and was drop-jawed in disbelief at these hirsute hallions with V-shaped guitars, raising a countrified metallic sound while headbanging with full force. Rather than continue with this enticing sound, the band took off in other directions and I keep coming back to their albums in hope, but the sound I want to hear again never quite materialises. Jim James put out a solo album a few years ago and there was experimentation aplenty as well as a new vocal sound, akin to Kermit the frog. WHY?!!
So MMJ return with the follow-up to 2011’s Circuital and whilst there are moments of goodness throughout The Waterfall, there are equally moments of bland non-entities that just don’t excite. Beginning where the solo album left off, opener ‘Believe (Nobody Knows)’ features some burbling keys and that Kermit vocalism again, which doesn’t bode well. Then the vintage chorus elevates us and all is well in the world again. It’s good to hear some fuzzy guitars in there too. Unfortunately the soulful leanings of mid-era MMJ return in ‘Compound Fracture’, Jim going for some ‘funky’ falsetto vocals. The song leaves a distinct splattering of beige around me and I feel sad again.
When they hit the spot they hit it satisfyingly well and the acoustic folk of ‘Like a River’ is all falsetto soaring vocals and Led Zep moments. Eventually exploding into a colourful ending the song is joyous though still not recreating the splendour of the early days. The curious entity that is ‘In its Infancy (The Waterfall)’ has a false start which intermittently pops up again as well as some unwelcome electronic elements. More of a collection of ideas, the harmonious country chorus lilts along with slide guitars but the join between the chorus/verse is clumsy and doesn’t work.
Another acoustic folk tune with a memorable and simple melody appears in ‘Get the Point’, not a gimmick in sight and gorgeous pedal steel guitars make it a highlight. ‘Spring (Among the Living)’ tries hard but lacks an engaging melody. My Morning Jacket claim some of the ground they lost to Band of Horses with ‘Thin Line’ – a wondrous slide guitar intro sets up Jim nicely to effortlessly slip out a gorgeous melody, full of yearning. ‘Big Decisions’ harks back to the early days as the full band sound recalls the live presence with big guitars and reverbed vocals.
The album ends on a tired note with the ponderous ‘Tropics (Erase Traces)’. After a loping acoustic guitar/bass intro, the track settles down into a psychedelic sound straight from the late 60s/early 70s. I just wonder if we really need this kind of music in this day and age. It isn’t offering anything new, sounds like it cost a lot to make and took forever to create. I’m left with a void feeling of not needing or wanting to return to the album and again, an amazing voice gets let down by some weak song writing and production that polishes surfaces that were already polished. I’ve had my last drink in the last chance saloon with My Morning Jacket. I have the memories of a band that could and should have gone places; their back catalogue suggests moments of brilliance but also a wilful desire to burden themselves with sound over substance. Unforgivable.
