Review Summary: My Morning Jacket is...
My Morning Jacket is one of my favorite bands, but I don’t approach their new releases with any real expectations. It’s now been a full two decades since their studio recordings felt vital - their fusing of twangy Americana and anthemic indie rock (anchored by one of the best vocalists ever) feeling unique and utterly beautiful. Since that era, their intermittent LPs have tended to be rather strong (perhaps excepting the ill-advised
Evil Urges), and I’d even call
The Waterfall II an excellent record, but something’s been missing. The group continues to put on an incredible live show (as I can personally attest), but new material increasingly feels inessential.
The last time we heard from this act was on 2021’s self-titled effort, a solid release which proved a curious grab-bag of tunes, ranging from throwaway rockers of modest quality to beautiful eight-minute epics. None of those tracks truly rivaled the classics of the My Morning Jacket canon, but most of them were pretty great, even if the album as a whole was far from coherent. In comparison, the group’s newest effort, simply titled
is, feels much tighter, even if the sensation of “resting on laurels” is more inescapable than ever. Here we find ten tracks, consistently around four minutes in duration, marking a steady diet of accessible pop rock, with some variations like the pseudo-reggae of “I Can Hear Your Love” or the stoner-y riffs of “Squid Ink”. If anything,
is feels like an aspiring revamp of the band’s
Z era, which offered a similar brand of immediate and listenable material.
In truth, that comparison isn’t very favorable to this album. Even if
Z marked a more streamlined approach compared to their adventurous and rambling first three albums, it still found the bad firing on all cylinders, and this time around, there’s a leisurely and easy-going vibe - the sound of an aging band content to crank out good tunes without pushing any boundaries. There are a few songs here which transcend a bit - “Time Waited” is quite lovely, and “River Road” is a gorgeous and reflective closing statement, but the rest of the songs are content to be easy on the ears. In other words, “Everyday Magic” is far more of the former than the latter. With all that said, I’ve heard plenty of far worse attempts at this kind of easy-listening rock and roll, and Jim James’ vocals sound rejuvenated this time around.
is is (yikes) a low-stakes and contented release, quite enjoyable for what it is and wholly inessential. Check it out or don’t, but catch these guys live sometime - you're unlikely to regret it.
