Kentucky rockers My Morning Jacket have been riding along on the peripheries of the alternative-country-rock scene long enough that this is their tenth studio album. A chance encounter with their song ‘Lowdown’ from their second album At Dawn, got me seriously interested in the band, enough to go see them play in Belfast circa that album. If my memory serves me correctly, the band somehow appeared to transform their lighter recorded output with something much heavier. Then there was the band’s appearance, Jim James had a serious amount of hair, and he looked like he ought to be fronting a stoner rock band.
As was my wont back in the day, with too much disposable income, I snapped up all their other albums, but they didn’t leave as much of an imprint as At Dawn. As time as moved on, the band have veered into some questionable sonic territories. The lead track from Is, ‘Time Waited’ hooked me though, it seemed a wondrous return to big melodies and stunning production (from Pearl Jam producer Brendan O’Brien no less).
When I heard opening song ‘Out In The Open‘, I was practically salivating, as it leans into full swing after a yearning introduction. Jim’s honey-toned voice is warm and wraps around you like an old friend you haven’t seen in years. The instrumentation is widescreen and gorgeously played. This is followed up by ‘Half A Lifetime’ which has a quirky stop-start groove that irks at first but eventually wins you over as the chorus that breaks it up is a joyous wee earworm. ‘Everyday Magic’ is a quirky number, based on a country rockin’ guitar loop and the chorus hits the sweet spot with a lovely melody.
‘I Can Hear Your Love’ rolls along with a lovely wee melody, it sounds like a few other songs I can’t put my finger on, but it’s a chipper tune so it passes, despite being a tad sickly sweet. The aforementioned ‘Time Waited’ is built on a beautiful piano loop as Jim soars wonderfully with a gorgeous melody. The big chorus that warns “if we don’t watch out, time waited” is an album highlight. It’s a heartfelt song that sits as one of their best.
Things take a bit of a turn at this stage though. ‘Beginning From The Ending’ has more interesting little embellishments in the background than the main melody and higher mixed instrumentation. Under no circumstances should anyone sample the noise a Mario game makes when he collects coins. But here’s ‘Lemme Know’ apparently performing such a dastardly feat. As you might expect from a song entitled ‘Squid Ink’, this is one of those songs that has absolutely no appeal to me whatsoever. Over a squelchy groove the nonsensical lyrics and redundant melody just contribute to a sketchy jam that goes nowhere. ‘Die For It’ has a lovely deep bass rumble and a crisp punchy beat, but once again suffers from being more of a jam than a song. Closing song ‘River Road’ is a close relative of AC/DC’s ‘Ride On’, the incessant one note bass line and shuffling drums make for a sad and yearning lament to the rolling around the country.
All in all, My Morning Jacket’s tenth studio album is a bit of a mixed bag to these ears. When they’re good the songs are very good, but when they veer the other way things can be a little difficult to stick with. I get the urge to throw lots of neat tricks and sounds was hard to resist, and of course the band are consummate musicians. But I cannot get over some of the looser tracks that just don’t have repeat play value for me. Having said that, it’s good to hear Jim James soar once again and the choice cuts here are some of their best.
