Rocking Till Morning
A Decade Later, My Morning Jacket Continues to Outperform and
Outlast Themselves
By Alan
Sculley
 |
| On tour
again, My Morning Jacket is rocking out their whole new
album — and then some. |
Finishing off
a fifth album, My Morning Jacket faced a challenge that
confronts many groups fortunate enough to stick around more than
a decade — how to put together a set list that satisfies both
the band and its fans.
The group
solved the dilemma in a way that is sure to please the latter.
“Making the
set lists became a bit of an issue to fit into, like, a
90-minute slot,” drummer Patrick Hallahan said in a recent phone
interview. “It was just kind of an idea we had: to [create] ‘an
evening with My Morning Jacket’ tour. So, since there is no
opening band, we are able to play two-and-a-half [to] three
hours.”
Bands that
play even two hours a night are fairly rare, and three-hour
shows, night after night, would drain some bands physically and
emotionally. But Hallahan said the evening-with shows suit My
Morning Jacket just fine.
“Well, if we
aren’t in shape by the end of this tour, something is wrong with
the universe,” Hallahan quipped.
Actually,
things are going well within My Morning Jacket’s universe these
days.
Not only are
the band members still rolling through the marathon sets with
plenty of energy and passion, My Morning Jacket’s new album,
Evil Urges, is justifiably being lauded as one of the year’s
best albums, and a record that could well give the
Louisville-based group a major commercial breakthrough.
My Morning
Jacket is playing virtually the entire album on tour, as well as
a good number of older tracks, and the new songs give the live
show a broader stylistic reach than ever before. It was part of
the intent in crafting Evil Urges.
“We wanted a
different-sounding album and we wanted a different approach, and
we got it,” Hallahan said. “But it wasn’t easy.”
The different
approach was achieved by moving away from the band’s usual
isolated recording locales to make Evil Urges at Avatar
Studio in New York City.
“Normally we
seclude ourselves from the rest of the world and work on our own
schedule,” Hallahan said. “This time, we were in one of the most
populated cities in the world, taking public transportation to
and from the studio every day, and working on a 12-hour
timeline. So if you can just imagine, that certainly puts a bit
of urgency into the recording process because you do have the
pressure to get things done that day.”
Musically,
front man Jim James pushed nearly 30 songs on the band, some of
which represented distinct stylistic departures for My Morning
Jacket.
The variety
in James’ writing, though, wasn’t out of character, according to
Hallahan.
“I think
that’s something that’s always going to happen with this band,
just because we don’t like to be caught in a rut. We get bored
easily,” he said. “Like Z was a different album from
[third album] It Still Moves and on back ... I think we
just want to constantly make everything new.”
Hallahan’s
view of the creative arc of My Morning Jacket is on-target.
Formed in
1998, the band’s first two CDs, The Tennessee Fire (1999)
and At Dawn (2001) established a sound that mixed
psychedelic rock, country and soaring vocals. By the time of
2003’s It Still Moves, the group’s music had taken on
more of an epic sweep. The songs on that third album frequently
ran more than six minutes, and the album as a whole had an
eerie, Southern gothic feel.
Z,
though, represented a strong step forward. While still instantly
recognizable as My Morning Jacket, the CD significantly expanded
on the band’s past work. In particular, songs like “Off The
Record” and “What A Wonderful Man” brought more of a pop element
into the group’s sound, while “Gideon” and “It Beats 4 U”
infused Z with a dimension of grace.
Evil Urges
continues down that. In particular, it brings a soul/R&B/funk
element into the My Morning Jacket sound that hadn’t been
readily apparent on the first four albums. This is especially
obvious on “Highly Suspicious,” a playful rocker with a slamming
beat and crunching riffs. But the funkier edge also bubbles up
in more subtle ways on songs like “Evil Urges” and “I’m Amazed.”
Overall, Evil Urges is the most diverse My Morning Jacket
record yet, with songs ranging from the pastoral “Thank You
Too!” to the acoustic folk of “Librarian” to the full-on rock of
“Aluminum Park” and “Remnants.”
As with Z,
My Morning Jacket also tightened up its songs, moving away from
the expansive arrangements of “It Still Moves” toward more
concise, somewhat less dense tracks.
“We started
that with Z and kind of continued the practice with
Evil Urges,” Hallahan said. It’s “the less-is-more approach
… everybody playing at the same time from start to finish,
scooping out room in the soundscape so things sound bigger. And
when things come in, there’s more of an impact. [It’s] just
really getting down to what needs to be there. That was the
ultimate goal for this album.”
My Morning
Jacket will perform at 8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 29 at The Fillmore
Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater, 1700 Washington
Ave., Miami Beach. Tickets are $33. For tickets and information
call 305-673-7300.
