POST NO. 38: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO MY MORNING JACKET?
A funny thing happened on the way to the new My Morning Jacket album, Z. Jim James decided to go all Zooropa on us. The stylistic shift is so prominent at times on Z that I question whether RCA slipped James a Flaiming Lips roofie before he headed into the recording studio.
For starters, gone are the electric guitars in all their glorious southern rock bombast, and missing is the reverb that coated It Still Moves like honey fresh from the hive. For seconds, James has adopted a more synthetic, atmospheric stadium rock sound, a la U2 or Mercury Rev. What he used to accomplish with natural reverb he's now accomplishing through keyboards and effects pedals. And for thirds, James fucking cut his long, flowing mane! The nerve!
Possibly, the departure of founding guitarist Johnny Quaid has had a noticeable affect on My Morning Jacket. I have to wonder if Quaid left because he wasn't comfortable with this new direction. I know I'm not. Songs like "Off the Record" are simplistic to a fault and come across with a sort of stale, bland coolness, as if James is trying too hard to impress both the alt-radio crowd and the hippie jam band sect.
Oh, there's still plenty of sweet soul in James' voice, which is the only thing that now drips with reverb. "Anytime" is one of the best songs James has penned, and "Lay Low" could rent a room on It Still Moves. Combine those two with the album's closing one-two punch, "Knots Come Loose" and "Dondante," and you've got the makings of a humdinger of an EP. But I just can't get into the rest of the album; it just feels like plastic where previous efforts felt like pine. And there's nothing that guest appearances by M. Ward or Andrew Bird can do to rescue it.
For a sampling of old and new, check out "Anytime" (the old) and the Flaming Lips-like "Wordless Chorus" (the new). I actually like "Wordless Chorus," but it just doesn't feel like "home". It's basically James' usual stab at reggae, but redone for a 21st Century electronica-dub sampler. And what is up with all that yelping at the end?
Truth be told, I was so in love with It Still Moves that I'm not sure that anything Jim James could have pulled out of his hat would have compared favorably. So I suppose you should take my minor rant with a grain of salt, or whatever. Find MMJ on the web here.
posted by thenoiseboy on 10/19/2005
4 Comments:
I read your blog all the time... but am commenting for the first time. I've bought a lot of music because of you!
The reason for my comment is (and I'm not nearly as musically, eh, proficient as you), doesn't it seem like a lot of bands are sounding like the Flaming Lips these days? It's kind of crazy. Guess all the years have paid off for the Lips - their sound is officially "hip." And I am not a big fan - just an observer.
Thanks for continuing to write about what you love.
Thanks for reading. I don't think there's any denying that the Lips "sonic fingerprint" can be found on a lot of other modern bands. I'm also not a big fan, but I do have a lot of respect for them. I find it amazing that they came as far as they did. I don't think that anyone who heard the Lips twenty years ago would have thought that they would ever be as popular or as influential as they are. And they've made it this far without compromising much.
I was a little surprised to see you weren't into Z. I like it and ISM for their differences, and am glad that they didn't stick to the same dynamic. Perhaps you could give it another listen?
I'll be giving it additional listens, but I was *so* taken aback on that first listen that I'm pretty sure it will never grow on me to the extent that I'll consider it a peer to It Still Moves.
The odd thing is, Z is getting better press than It Still Moves did in some circles. I think it's just a matter of taste. Z is definitely more accessible at times, but I think it lacks the depth and the turmoil that ISM had at its core. In short, it sorta feels like MMJ selling out -- at least a bit.
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