MY MORNING JACKET play July 11 at the Kool Haus. Rating: NNN
My Morning Jacket’s sixth LP comes accompanied by a back-to-basics narrative, recorded as it was in a church gym in Louisville. That should likely excite “old-school” MMJ fans put off by some of the more audacious genre experiments on 2008’s mixed-bag Evil Urges, but it’s hazardous for a band that’s never seemed interested in retreating to its rustic country-rock origins.
Jim James is the type of ambitious, restless songwriter who always reaches a bit past his grasp. Though this outing focuses more on the smooth, laid-back side of their sound, Circuital is still the work of a band that refuses to stand still.
Nowhere is that more obvious than on Holdin’ On To Black Metal, a song that, with its gaudy horns and backup vocals, exemplifies the band’s over-ambition. Much more satisfying is Wonderful (The Way I Feel), an understated acoustic number that showcases James’s limber, soulful vocals. My Morning Jacket can do epics, but sometimes it’s nice to see them scale it back.
Top track: Wonderful (The Way I Feel)
