Album Review: Jim James, Uniform Distortion

BARD of AMERICANA SWITCHES TO PARTY MODE

As frontman of My Morning Jacket, Jim James opened a new frontier for big-sky Americana - one as indebted to the throbbing dreaminess of My Bloody Valentine as to the age-worn majesty of Crazy Horse.

He ventures even further into swirling bubblegum pop on his sixth solo album. Though James' high-pitched voice provides a thread of idiosyncrasy throughout, there are glimmerings of Fleetwood Mac on 'Over And Over', while 'Too Good To Be True' sounds like Pink Floyd - if Pink Floyd had all grown up in the same barn in Tennessee.

My Morning Jacket can sometimes mistake plodding for stately and James has previously used his solo records as an outlet for his more off-the-cuff tendencies (his 2009 debut consisted entirely of George Harrison and Beatles covers).

Obviously the agenda on his latest stand-alone LP is having fun - probably why 'You Get To Rome' sounds like T.Rex covering 'Rockin' All Over The World'. It's a brash high-point of a collection that may have been explicitly engineered to be throwaway and forgettable, but is imbued with an irrepressible sense of adventure.

7/10

Best Track - 'You Get to Rome'

Out now / Ed Power