My Morning Jacket

3.5 Stars



From the first few bass-heavy seconds of resounding keyboards on “Z”’s opener “Wordless Chorus,” My Morning Jacket establishes a vastly different record from 2003’s guitar-rock-oriented “It Still Moves.”

As the track draws to a close, singer/guitarist Jim James channels Elton John’s howling vocals over a tight soul-funk rhythm. The most remarkable thing about James’ trademark voice is that he does not even need to sing actual words for his songs to feel meaningful, nor do his lyrics need to be particularly creative.

Much of the album recalls songs such as the sprawling “Cobra” off the band’s 2002 E.P., “Chocolate and Ice.” But even with the familiar emphasis on blanketing reverb, soaring vocal lines, minor key melodies, and heavy breakdowns, “Z” reformats the band’s modus operandi.

Legendary producer John Leckie (Radiohead, Stone Roses) seems to have contributed heavily to this evolution. His touch is most evident in the futuristic feel of several tracks, such as “Off The Record”’s spacey fadeout. Increasingly psychedelic lyrics like “A kitten on fire/a baby in a blender” confirm a noticeable change in the group’s sensibility.

But despite James’ voice and the enthusiasm that the band put into each track, several tracks on the album fall flat. “Gideon” and “Anytime,” for example, are visceral but disappointingly derivative of Coldplay, flawlessly executed but too slickly produced.

“What a Wonderful Man” is boring, candyfloss pop that acknowledges Wilco’s “Summerteeth” in its forcedly peppy instrumentation and retro harmonies. But while Wilco vocalist Jeff Tweedy always sounds too dire to make any of his poppier efforts irritating, James sounds cloyingly precious. “Off The Record,” while awe-inspiring in concert, sounds paradoxically forced on the record.

Still, the band retains its flair for the redeeming musical moment. “Lay Low” is not conceptually jaw-dropping, but the spiraling, Built to Spill-esque guitar solo and the descending rhythm hook are sure to please old-school MMJ fans. “Knot Comes Loose” is an unquestionably pastoral tune but, when an overdubbed James effortlessly harmonizes “Ba-by, can’t you see that I’m smilin’,” it’s impossible not to fall for the song’s classic melody.

“Dondante,” the closer, is one of the best songs that MMJ has ever written. Eight minutes long, it has an inherent majesty that initially expresses itself in the song’s languid tempo. Reminiscent of Icelandic dronesters Sigur Ros in its grandeur, “Dondante” builds until James’ voice drops out and a guitar plays a mellow riff-based solo.

At the 3:29 mark, light drum hits set up a truly breath-taking vocalization of deceptively simple words: “You had me worried/so worried that this would last.” James’ ragged voice is so captivatingly emotional that just that one line suffices.

The group then builds into a high-register guitar solo before drifting back into the quiet sonic coma in which the song—and Z itself—began. The song’s denouement lasts approximately two full minutes, but when it finally fades into silence, you’ll undoubtedly feel compelled to start it over again, unlike the album as a whole.

—Staff writer Nathaniel Naddaff-Hafrey can be reached at nhafrey@fas.harvard.edu.