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Evil Urges
MY MORNING JACKET
Producer(s): Jim James, Joe Chiccarelli
Label: ATO |
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Evil has a new name, and it's Jim James. The My Morning Jacket frontman cackles, croons, wails, wallops and stomps through the band's fifth and latest great album. On this occasionally oddball stroll through the band's twisted psycho-Southern backcountry, "Highly Suspicious," an eyelinered, WTF '80s rocker that would greatly please Adam Ant, backs up against "I'm Amazed," a soul-drenched singalong that sounds like it was conceived, after a few degrees of separation, in Big Pink. The expansive roster of tracks ranges from lush balladry ("Thank You Too") to James Taylor homages ("Sec Walkin' ") to MMJ's trademark psychedelic tours de force (the two-part split epic "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream"). But the anchor, as usual, is James, whose simultaneous obsessions with Crazy Horse, Prince and folk (how sweet is the tiny love story "Librarian?") create strong, oft-memorable foundations beneath each of the record's flights of fancy. —Jeff Vrabel |
