Really nice article in the Velocity this week.

[e_wind]

In Louisville's Velocity there's an awesome article about Circuital.

First, Jim hates the phrase "They're going back to their roots", because "it's not like they're trying to recreate TTF or something"...

Also, there will be b-sides or bonus releases featuring alternate lyrics to Outa My System and Wonderful that were meant for the Muppets. Also Friends Again is mentioned.

[capt. scotty]

In Louisville's Velocity there's an awesome article about Circuital.

First, Jim hates the phrase "They're going back to their roots", because "it's not like they're trying to recreate TTF or something"...

Also, there will be b-sides or bonus releases featuring alternate lyrics to Outa My System and Wonderful that were meant for the Muppets. Also Friends Again is mentioned.

very cool

[johnnYYac]

Can we get a link or scan or something?

[rmpotsy]

ive been looking and i do not think it is online yet.  might be because it is yesterdays issue.  as soon as it pops up i will post it.

[rmpotsy]

finally found it is the ardchives, but it was never on the regular site.

My Morning Jacket has made records everywhere from a grain silo out in the country to one of the most famous studios in the world.

But until "Circuital," the band had never made one in Louisville, and even then it was something of an accident.

When the band gathered to lay down a handful of demo tracks at a nondescript church in the Original Highlands last year, it was only to take advantage of the acoustics in its gymnasium.

But bassist Tom Blankenship said something unexpected started happening almost right away at Christ Evangelical Church, and it didn't stop until the album was finished.

Perhaps it was meant to be. As the record's Tuesday release approaches, with its accompanying sold-out show at the Louisville Palace, songwriter Jim James said that its themes of circuits being completed, of questions getting resolved and peace of mind discovered, were ultimately reflected in the recording process.

They came home to make music, and in the process delivered their most centered and rewarding album.

"I hate that phrase, 'They're goin' back to their roots!'" James said. "It's not like we sat around in Shelbyville trying to re-create 'The Tennessee Fire' or anything like that, but it was kind of like that because we came home to record. The gym and the church could have just as much been a failure, but everything just kind of worked out.

"Being in that gym over at the church is such a magical place. We had it all set up... and it felt really, really organic and old-school with all of us in the room and lots of bleed everywhere, no Internet, no A/C, no laptops. It was so hot, like 105 degrees, everybody sweating. It was really great."

When something is circuital, it's part of a journey. Although normally associated with electronic circuitry, it can refer to any journey.

My Morning Jacket's journey began in 1998, with the release of "The Tennessee Fire," an album recorded in a makeshift studio in Shelbyville, Ky., that was pieced together by James and the band's original guitarist, Johnny Quaid. They recorded as a band, everyone together, a process that changed in many ways as their success grew over the course of five albums.

For 2008's "Evil Urges," a sprawling record with multiple identities, James, Blankenship, Patrick Hallahan, Carl Broemel and Bo Koster were on a tight schedule at New York's Avatar Studios, a hallowed hall more famously known as The Power Station, where Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones and Madonna once cut tracks. They were on a major label now, and they filled every minute by trying to do everything they could imagine at the legendary studio.

"For me, 'Evil Urges' felt almost like a project more than an album," said Hallahan, the band's drummer. "It was like, 'Well, let's see if we can do this kind of song,' or, 'Let's see if I can play like a drum machine.' This album was us sitting in a circle and playing songs, which is one of the reasons it's called 'Circuital.'"

Louisville recording engineer Kevin Ratterman, a longtime friend of the band, joined the circle, as did co-producer Tucker Martine. With Ratterman working his usual sonic alchemy, the band was getting the best of both worlds: studio-quality sound in a setting where they could simply play together and let the tape roll. The initial plan to relax, polish some songs and cut a few demos quickly faded.

"We weren't deliberately trying to not cut tracks, but we just didn't want to put any pressure on ourselves," James said. "The last record, you could only be in the studio 12 hours a day. The clock's ticking and it costs so much money. We wanted to do the exact opposite.

"I've gotten into the mode of not wanting to prepare as much, so you get in there and as you're learning the songs, they're kind of fleshing themselves out and becoming real. We just kind of went with that. We would just work on a song and get it to feel like it was coming together, and then look for the magic take."

A couple of songs are older, but dressed in new arrangements. "Outta My System" and "Wonderful (The Way I Feel)" were both started for a proposed Muppets project that fell through and were never arranged for the band. (The Muppet-centric lyrics were also rewritten, though James says the Kermit versions may be released as B-sides or bonus material.)

The first single on "Circuital" is also a departure. "Holdin' on to Black Metal" began life as a pop song from Thailand that James found on a compilation CD.

"I listened to it on repeat for weeks," James said. "All of these words and melodies were coming out of my head, and I could sing them over top of the song, but I had no idea what (the singer) was saying. I just sang my lyrics and my chorus over it, and we put in a break and some solos. It was a unique experience. I guess you would consider it like a hip-hop sample type of deal."

"Circuital" doesn't have a storyline, yet feels whole. It's an album experience, meaning that it sounds best when listened to from beginning to end. The deeper you listen, the more the songs reveal themselves as the work of a band that has learned to trust its instincts and each other.

"I feel like a lot of my songs are about questioning everything, like a 3-year-old or something, but I can't figure anything out, so I just keep questioning," James said. "With this (album), I just feel really peaceful about it. I feel peaceful about the theme. For whatever reason, it feels more resolved than any of our other records, like even if the questions haven't necessarily been answered, at least it feels like they're understood, maybe.

"Which is kind of like the circular nature of life. We all have what we need inside us, and it's our job to figure out how to navigate through this world and to make life a good experience for ourselves and for the people we love. This record just feels like some of those questions have been answered, and the feeling between us guys as a band feels real healthy and real positive."

and the "first look":

The last two My Morning Jacket albums were almost brazen in their ambition, from the way "Wordless Chorus" announced that "Z" was going to obliterate the lazy comparisons to Southern rock that had dogged the band for years, to how "Evil Urges" used "Highly Suspicious" to ensure that no one could safely predict where the band was headed.

But on "Circuital," nothing like that is needed. After five albums that in no way felt incomplete or poorly conceived, this one arrives with a confidence and sense of purpose that border on the serene. Other albums have been more epic, some more bold, but in the end, "Circuital" stands as the band's most accomplished and satisfying record.

You may not think so after the first listen, or maybe even three. It's tricky like that, and kind of quiet in a lot of ways. But as the songs sink in, it becomes clear that "Circuital" is a reflection and summation of the band's entire career to date, touching on everything it has done without really repeating anything.

It's some of Jim James' most assured writing, and in many ways his most directly personal songs, an area he tends to avoid. It's almost as if the scattershot, anything-goes years have wound down, both personally and professionally, and now the real work of living well has begun: What are the lessons learned, who or what means the most, and what do we do with that knowledge?

"It matters to me, it took a long time to get here/If it would've been easy, I would not have cared," James sings on the gorgeous "Wonderful (The Way I Feel)," and that notion of a difficult journey rewarded with a peaceful arrival gets to the heart of the record in many ways.

It could get heavy but doesn't. James has a playful way of dealing with deep ideas, and in "Wonderful" his happiness bursts into a hippie coloring-book world where there aren't any cops and no disease. It's silly, yet so heartfelt and pretty that you can only reach for a midnight blue and color along with him. It's the same with "Outta My System," a pop gem originally written for The Muppets that turns PSAs upside down, and the wonderfully absurd "Holdin' on to Black Metal," a rewrite of a Thai pop song.

Even the ominous moments -- such as "Victory Dance," a dark conversation between man and creator -- sound light on their feet. That's because James, Patrick Hallahan, Tom Blankenship, Bo Koster and Carl Broemel are at the top of their considerable games, filling these elegantly constructed songs with constant surprise.

There's the fuzz-bomb guitars and keyboards that turn into a horn section on "First Light"; the Burt Bacharach vocal hook that opens and repeats in "The Day Is Coming"; the awesomely girly chorus that anchors "Black Metal"; the way "Wonderful" suddenly blooms into a richer song; and the decision to leave "Slow Slow Tune" completely alone, no frills, letting it simmer.

Maybe that kind of simplicity is the key to why "Circuital" is so good. At this stage in the band's career, My Morning Jacket could have done anything it wanted, recorded anywhere and with a dozen guests. Instead, the band pulled back and reverted to the fundamentals -- five guys in a room in Louisville, trusting each other and the songs. That's what they've learned, it's what means the most, and this record is what they did.

-- Jeffrey Lee Puckett

[lucylew]

Thanks so much for posting.  Reading this was a beautiful way to start the day!

[e_wind]

what he says about the original version of black metal or whatever is awesome. listening to it, shouting his own lyrics, not understanding the singer at all

[SaraBananaBear]

Thanks a bunch! :)

[ChiefOKONO]

thanks that was a really goood 'un!