Columbia Daily Tribune

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http://www.columbiatribune.com/2005/Nov/20051117Go!007.asp

My Morning Jacket brings spirited inclusion


By SETH ASHLEY of the Tribune's staff
Published Thursday, November 17, 2005
It seems like My Morning Jacket has been the buzz band of the moment for the better part of two years now. With the release of 2003's "It Still Moves," the Kentucky quintet solidified its status among bands to watch. This fall, they've put their best foot forward with their fourth full-length album, titled "Z."

Awash in reverb and venturing into the occasional guitar jam, the album offers fans more of the spacey Southern psychedelia they've come to expect from My Morning Jacket. But the album is also a major departure. With songs that are more concise and structured, the album's 10 tracks clock in at less than 50 minutes. Two new band members help to expand arrangements and increase the scope of the music. And at the center of it all remains the soaring voice of front man Jim James, who pushes himself to new heights on "Z."

Perhaps part of the push came from veteran English producer John Leckie, who helped take a little band called Radiohead to the next level as they transitioned from the ho-hum guitar rock of 1993's "Pablo Honey" to 1995's lavish "The Bends." But more than just fancy production, "Z" is the product of a band that has set out to explore new frontiers.

"We wanted to make a record that grooved and swung but wasn't trying to imitate classic soul," James said in the band's press release. "We wanted to keep an aspect of what we'd always done but also make something you could dance to or listen to while driving home. Hip-hop and soul music are unifying people right now. I wanted to incorporate that into our music; to make this really sad, mysterious kind of dance music, something that really got into your butt, but also really got into your head made you think."

Hip-hop and soul probably aren't the genres that come to mind for most people who give "Z" a listen, but it makes sense that those styles were in the back of the band's collective mind as they went to write and record. From the album's shimmering opening track, "Wordless Chorus," to the reggae undertones of its first single, "Off the Record," My Morning Jacket sounds like all your favorite bands rolled into one.

It's also a spiritual record featuring some of James' ideas about religion. On "What a Wonderful Man," he croons, "He was leading us through the dark / he was saying that 'love goes on.' " And on "Wordless Chorus," James hints at his own search for the light: "So much going on these days / forget about instinct / it's not what pays. /Tell me spirit / what has not been done? / I'll rush out and do it / or are we doing it now?"

Another change the band made for their new album was their recording venue. For the first time, My Morning Jacket left their traditional studio environment in the Kentucky countryside beyond Louisville and headed to upstate New York, where they recorded at Allaire Studios.

"We find our bearings more in a rural, removed setting," said drummer Patrick Hallahan in a press release. "Allaire was the perfect answer to that, being isolated on a Catskills mountain."

My Morning Jacket has been experiencing changes ever since two of the band's original members called it quits in 2003, just months after the release of "It Still Moves." The three remaining members found replacements with keyboardist Bo Koster and guitarist Carl Broemel. From there, they set to work on the album that has again confirmed this band is here to stay.

"Before, we had some unexpressed anger and frustration," said the band's bass player, known only as Two-Tone Tommy. "Now we had figured out it doesn't always have to be that way. Now we could celebrate that things were changing."