MMJ bring it home - article

[SaraBananaBear]

Found here: http://www.torontosun.com/2011/05/29/my-morning-jacket-bring-it-home

My Morning Jacket have come full circle -- sort of -- with their new disc Circuital.

The psychedelic southern rockers went old-school in several ways for their sixth CD: They recorded live to tape in a studio they built in their Kentucky hometown, says leader Jim James.

"It always feels good to be home," stresses the singer-guitarist from, yes, his Louisville home. "And we had actually never recorded in Louisville proper before. We made our first three records in Shelbyville, which is maybe half an hour away. But I've always written 90% of the songs in Louisville. So it was pretty exciting and cool to be at home and actually make the record here."

But Circuital -- the title refers partly to the fact that the musicians recorded it while facing each other in a circle -- isn't just a geographic homecoming. Songs such as Outta My System, Holding on to Black Metal and the title cut are reflective ruminations on growth, maturity and cycles of life, set to some of the quintet's most immediate and concise songs in years.

With the album in stores May 31 -- and the band's album-launch concert from Louisville streaming live on YouTube that evening at 9 p.m. Eastern -- 33-year-old James talked about falling offstage, the devil in the computer and his unrequited Muppet love.

So much of Circuital, both musically and logistically, is about returning home. Where did that come from?

It just came from life. I try to let the universe dictate what is supposed to happen with our music. I feel there are always certain energies pulling you in a certain direction and I try to listen to that. For this record, we decided to come back to rehearse and we found this beautiful old church space where we ended up making the record. At first we were just going to go rehearse in it, but we loved it so much that it just made sense to stay and make the whole record in there.And at that point, it became about us embracing home and enjoying that.

How did the concept of recording live on tape fit in with that?

I don't want to seem too retro, but there's just a certain purity of recording to tape. It's like a mirror; you only see what you put into it. Whereas the computer is a crazy hologram machine. You can put the image of a frog into the computer and turn it into the Devil. So for us, it was just fun to focus on getting good live performances. We've always done our basic tracking that way, but it's been tough to get a live vocal -- by the time the band gets the song down, I'm spent. But this time I really wanted to record the vocal for every song live with the band, because I feel that makes for a more emotional connection. So we didn't rehearse any of the music before we got to the space. I sent the guys really simple demos so they kind of knew the songs, but that was it. So it became an all-in-one process where we were learning the song and recording the song at the same time. And it turned out great.

A lot of the lyrics are about growing up, moving on, reflecting back on youth. Aren't you a little young for a midlife crisis?

Some of it came from a head injury I had two years ago when I fell off the stage. That made me question a lot of things. I was in a weird place -- while I was recovering from this very strange injury which took a long time to get over, I was watching people starting families and having kids. I felt like an outsider -- like I was watching through Plexiglass as real life happened to people I knew. And I was thinking about when different versions of you stop and start, and how you have to let yourself change. You can't try to stay the same person. There's the child inside you that doesn't want to die as you become an adult, but you have to move on. I'm just constantly trying to find out who I really am. And I'm still struggling to find a definition I'm comfortable with.

The song Holding On to Black Metal seems like an analogy for the growth you're talking about. Were you a black metal fan?

When I was younger, I had more room for that energy. I still have respect for the bands and the music, but sonically, my brain can't handle the landscape of that music any more. That might be due in large part to being in a touring rock band. I'm constantly hearing loud music. So when I want to listen to music, I don't want to hear guitars.

Is it true that some of these songs were originally written for The Muppets?

Yeah, one of the guys at Disney was a big fan of our band and asked us to write new music for Electric Mayhem, the Muppet Show band. It was supposed to be kind of a Gorillaz thing where we wrote the music and would play behind a screen. But then the guy got fired and the whole project pretty much got s---canned. So instead of letting the songs die, we resurrected them for the album. Outta My System was one of them. We actually have a more Muppety version we're going to release to give people a taste of what we were thinking.

You've also been on American Dad. What's the attraction to those shows?

I love entertainment that can be fun for the whole family, but isn't afraid of being weird. Mom and Dad could sit down and watch the Muppet Show with the kids and everybody would be entertained, but it wasn't mindless children's entertainment. It was still a little bit risky. I would love to be involved with something like that.

:)

[rmpotsy]

jesus, how old is that picture?

[SaraBananaBear]

jesus, how old is that picture?

Yeah I know, I thought about that too. It's like, come on people, get updated!

[DaFunkyPrecedent]

The article IS about coming full circle...

[DejaView2011]

Very nice interview. Thanks Ford posting it!

[ms. yvon]

jesus, how old is that picture?

;D ;D ;D
thanks for posting sbb!

[halesdd]

That is an awesome interview.  Like Jim talking about the head injury and questioning his place in life.  Really deep stuff that shows his innerbeing.

[halesdd]

"Outta My System was one of them. We actually have a more Muppety version we're going to release to give people a taste of what we were thinking."

I am thinking maybe that will be a release for the Roll Call members to look forward to.  Be interesting to hear the alternate version of it.