Throughout the decade of their career, people have tried to conjure up an accurate label for Kentucky’s My Morning Jacket. Psychedelic southern rock. Alt country. America’s answer to Radiohead. The band’s 2003 major label debut, It Still Moves, painted a gorgeous picture of the open road and the Southern night sky. 2005’s Z took their spacey Americana into a more experimental and electronic realm, one that rocketed them into the awareness of college kids and indie rockers everywhere.
The group’s third major studio release, Evil Urges, makes categorizing the already eclectic band nearly impossible. The music is all over the place: funk-metal, Southern rock, hypnotic electro textures, and nauseatingly sweet pop country all take their places here. The result is a listen that’s full of surprises, some good, others not so much. In any case, you’ve got to admire these guys for stepping so far out of their comfort zone, no matter how confusing/exciting/exhausting the end product.
The single “Evil Urges” opens the album with an electro-soul groove. Jim James’ falsetto croons sweetly over a churning low-end synth, reggae-jazz guitar skank, and a bed of strings. The song really takes off during the unexpected psycho-hoedown of its second half. “Touch Me I’m Going To Scream (Part 1)” is more along the lines of what we heard on Z, with James’ reverb-y vocals floating in harmony over mechanical drums and bass and occasional entrances of spacey electronic swishes and swells. “Highly Suspicious,” the album’s strangest song, layers James’ breathy falsetto over funk-metal guitar riffs and a robotic chorus of voices. Though somewhat baffling on the first listen, the song is certainly different than anything they’ve done before. Whether or not it’s an enjoyable piece of music is debatable, but no one can accuse these guys of not taking chances.
What makes the eclectic collection of songs even more bizarre (unfortunately, not in a good way) is its inclusion of extremely generic songs among the gems of innovation. “Sec Walkin’” and “Two Halves” are forgettable, overproduced country pop. As good as James’ voice sounds, the adult contemporary synth sounds and generic sonic palate are hard to stomach. The chorus of “Thank You Too!” is practically unlistenable easy listening, nauseating in the sappiness of its strings and smooth-jazz chord progression. The guitar solo, playing against '60s soul-funk strings, is redeeming, melding the band’s country twang with late Marvin Gaye, but still not enough to save the song.
Still, the album’s high points are quite high. The subtle string and steel guitar swells of the mostly acoustic “Librarian” create a sound as dreamy and introspective as the band’s best work. The anthematic guitar riffs of “Aluminum Park” and Allman Brothers-meets-goth-rock sounds of “Remnants” make you want to wrap a handkerchief around your head and wave a Pabst Blue Ribbon in the air (I mean that in a good way).
“Touch Me I’m Going To Scream (Part 2)” is the album’s closing and most powerful piece. Beginning with ambient sounds of wind and hypnotic layers of video game electronics and coagulating into the incessant bass thumps and disembodied vocals of the verses, the song stands up among MMJ’s best music. Here, one hears the sense of space that the band used so effectively on their previous albums, particularly when it explodes into the dreamy chorus of vocal harmonies and churning guitars of its second half.
Few people are going to love Evil Urges from beginning to end. There are certainly some points where the avid MMJ fan is going to ask him/herself “What were they thinking!?” Still, for a band so far into the critics’ spotlight to release this disparate a song collection—as weak as some of them are—takes some serious cahones. And let’s face it, with that voice, Jim James can sell us on almost anything.
|