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My Morning Jacket Says Try This On For Size

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By CURTIS ROSS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 19, 2008

The opening title track of My Morning Jacket's new album is hooky modern pop except for the middle section, which sounds like "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway"-era Genesis, had Steve Hackett been way into bluegrass.

Third track "Highly Suspicious" sounds like Beck doing Prince, until it gets so sexed up it could only be Prince doing Prince.

And I can remember when MMJ was the jam band for people who didn't like jam bands.

The curve balls thrown by 2005's "Z" are next to nothing compared to the trails blazed by Jim James and Co. this time out. Leave your preconceptions outside the CD tray, please.

Not everything's from left field. "I'm Amazed" is neo-classic rock at its finest, while "Librarian" is the sly seduction number Lambchop's Kurt Wagner could never bring himself to write.

There still are links with the band's origins in guitarist Carl Broemel's live-wire solos, and the Jacket remains able to stretch out with the best of them, even if the rhythms are more four-on-the-floor ("Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Part 2") than the wild-and-wooly rambles of yore.

But MMJ '08 obviously finds the recording studio as fascinating as the concert stage, and just as suitable for dancing out on the sonic edge.

And while Prince, prog rock and heaven knows what all plays a part in the sound of "Evil Urges," the band's down-home roots blend it all into something unique but still pleasingly familiar.

James' voice gives "Evil Urges" its continuity but it also expresses the album's diversity. For "Thank You Too!" he utilizes an earnest, pleading tenor. On "Librarian" he glides effortlessly from detached singer-songwriter to confident seducer. On "Aluminum Park" and "Remnants" he unleashes his most feral rock howls.

James shows the same loosely unified variety in his lyrics. He's a vulnerable hipster, disguising his smarts with double negatives, equal parts astute observer and aw-shucks common man.

Oh, and "Look at You" may be the most ironic campaign song ever.

Download this: "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Part 2"

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