Glide Magazine Z Review

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.glidemagazine.com/2/reviews958.html
My Morning Jacket
Z
Brian Gearing
Monday, September 19, 2005  
 
As the opening minutes of Z pass by with nary a crashing cymbal or a ringing chord, impossible doubts seep in through the membrane of denial: Has My Morning Jacket become a keyboard band? Did the departed Johnny Quaid and Danny Cash rip the backbeating heart from My Morning Jacket's battered lapel? Did his solo softhearts tour with M. Ward and Conor Oberst rob Jim James of his Flying V-rility? Most importantly, what's become of the swirling hair dance?

The manufactured beats and pillowy keyboards of opener "Wordless Chorus" dust over some familiar reverb harmonies with Oberst's Digital Ash, but as James' soft falsetto becomes Michael Jackson doing "Benny and the Jets," mournful tears begin to blur the shocking reality. Instead of the standard rock stomp of It Still Moves, soft, groovy drums flutter through "It Beats for You," but faint guitar picking raises a glimmer of rock and roll hope—which is summarily dashed by an ivory bridge to the chorus.

As James' heavily reverbed vocals drift through the spacewalk guitar melody of "Gideon," however, the blinding sound of guitar distortion peaks around the dark side of the moon. Volumes swell, cymbals crash, and the truth becomes clear: this is not the end of the rock and roll universe. Instead, My Morning Jacket has entered a parallel dimension where Pete Townshend guitar windmills coexist harmoniously with eccentric modern power pop; where a sadistic nightmare carnival featuring "a kitten on fire" and "a baby in a blender" can wander "Into the Woods" and return with an armful of lush piano greenery and a single lap steel blossom on "Knot Comes Loose."

Time, space, and stylistic paradigms lose all meaning: jagged Ziggy Stardust deconstructions underpin the piano ballad guitar volume of "What a Wonderful Man" as an elementary school chorus gleefully chants the title refrain. Techno junkies and surf rock super heroes bond over Cheap Trick records on "Anytime" and "Off the Record," and Molly Hatchet hires DJ Shadow to do the drum track for "Lay Low."

While much of Z comes as a shock, even the surprises should seem perfectly natural in hindsight. The combination of the hushed, indie balladry of their early records with the spacious guitar rock of their last was to be expected, but My Morning Jacket's recent history all but demands the newer, more exotic rhythms and textures on Z, which makes it clear that this is a great band, doing great things—who've been playing it safe until now. Z is an ambitious leap of faith into a new frontier where the old rules don't apply, and My Morning Jacket seem perfectly happy to write their own.

For more info see: mymorningjacket.com