The Waterfall - Album Reviews

[ruralt]

Here's a great longform piece from Stereogum that reviews the new album, but also kinda looks at MMJ in the context of the musical landscape of today:
http://www.stereogum.com/1799475/opening-the-world-again-my-morning-jackets-the-waterfall-and-the-new-americana/franchises/essay/

This is by far my favorite write-up on the album.  That guy fucking gets it.  Or we get it in the same way.  Or we both just really like the album.  Whatever.  And his ideas about a "New Americana" are pretty interesting too.  It's a dense read but well worth it.

[Shug]

http://nodepression.com/album-review/my-morning-jacket-waterfall

by Post To Wire
July 10, 2015

My Morning Jacket's mystical musical powers seemed to be waning on their last two albums. There was a restlessness at play, a desire to shrug off the shackles of cosmic Americana rock and show they could do anything, or at least whatever they wanted. It didn't work when they swung the pendulum too far outside many of their fans' comfort zones. Subsequently Evil Urges and Circuital felt adrift and untethered from what makes the band so commanding when they get it right. Hopes then for this album was a return to form, not necessarily back to the early days of It Still Moves but at least to a more centred and classically freewheeling My Morning Jacket.

The Waterfall does that most of the time but not all the time. There are moments where they hit that golden streak and find the rarified air, where Jim James' voice soars effortlessly and beautifully, with ease. "Thin Line" is a prime example, with its sweet soulful mid-paced groove and James is at his reverb-laden, falsetto best. "Get the Point" has the same euphoric effect but it succeeds due to its Harry Nilsson-styled melody. Sonically, "In Its Infancy (The Waterfall)" starts with dissonant post-rock chords reminiscent of Slint before blossoming into a yacht-rock sounding epic spread over five minutes. It's the centrepiece of the album and shows how effectively the band can harness those disparate elements of their style into one glorious song.

The weaker moments on The Waterfall are only on a handful of its songs and they never approach the dire low points of previous albums such as "Highly Suspicious" or "Holdin' On To Black Metal". Instead they are mediocre My Morning Jacket tracks, they inspire little emotional reaction or head nodding, they just drift by. "Compound Fracture" is faux-soul, like Scritti Politti without the art school leanings while "Spring (Among The Living)" never really steps out of the shadow of U2 or even Pink Floyd until it builds in intensity for far too short a period toward the end of the song.

So yes, a return to form of sorts. It isn't wholly convincing but the band shows they can edit themselves and still write superb songs that draw from rock, Americana, soul and psychedelic music. They're still writing cosmic music but they've learnt that to dial into their muse they need to keep one foot planted on the Earth.
7/10

Chris Familton

POST TO WIRE

[Shug]

From the awesome Stereogum essay by Ryan Leas:

"MMJ are committed to the search for wonder. The sense that there's something ineffable and otherworldly to still be located in guitars and voice and drums, the sense that there's something ineffable and otherworldly to still be located when you use those tools to sift through the landscape around us. It's easy to lose a sense of wonder in the 21st century, in America. The sensory overload these days, the sheer ability to access anything at any time, can be overwhelming to the point of deadening. It's harder for something to be shocking or beautiful or incredible because you see a stream of such things in your Twitter feed every day. "

Excellent, thoughtful and articulate writing about what makes MMJ still great, even though I don't like The Waterfall as much as Ryan and many others do.  I dig this kind of essay immensely.

[Friguy5]

Hello All!
I'm Ryan!!!
I've been a MMJ fan for about 3 years now. I saw them live 2 times (once as the headlining band and other time with Wilco and Bob Dylan). This band is AMAZING!
I bought 'The Waterfall' on vinyl and wow, it is nice! It's a 2LP - pressed at 45RPM! And the booklet and cover are gorgeous!
I made a fun YouTube video about MMJ and' The Waterfall' on vinyl. If there are fans or anyone that is not sure who or what My Morning Jacket is... Please check it out!
Thank You!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=779Y0_t1EMM
OK COOL!

[parkervb]

at first I thought Ryan was some sort of well designed spammer, but that's a pretty cool video.

Ryan - I posted in the Vinyl section that the Badman pressing of It Still Moves is available on eBay right now.

[GO4IT]

popmarket has The Waterfall boxed set on sale for $49.95!
https://www.popmarket.com/products/my-morning-jacket-the-waterfall-vinyl-2lp-7-box-set?utm_source=PM_Contingency&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email%20%7C%2020160803%20%7C%20MMJ