Album Review: My Morning Jacket, Is

Thrice Grammy-winner Brendan O’Brien, who’s helmed production for Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam, has been recruited into the My Morning Jacket ranks for their latest record. It marks a 90 degree turn from their previous self-titled outing, which displayed fantastic range, as the band loosely jammed across psychedelia, funk, rock, surf, country and more.

On that album, MMJ duelled sonically, whereas here, they sound more like a communal fraternity. Look, the Kentucky natives have been about, as evidenced by the Danny Clinch-directed video for lead single ‘Time Waited’, a live performance diced with archival photos from throughout the band’s history.

They’ve also made u-turns before – their statement record It Still Moves was preceded by the Chocolate & Ice EP, which featured a 20 minute-plus electro-funk wig out, and was succeeded by the dub-singed Z, and the funk-fried Evil Urges.

Ceding power to O’Brien works extremely well here. Everyone stays in their lane on ‘Out In The Open’, in the creation of a sweeping epic. The ridiculously filthy guitar riff on ‘Squid Ink’, meanwhile, stampedes to thrilling effect. Elsewhere, ‘I Can Hear Your Love’ is a Lennon-like gem – the highest of praise – while closer ‘River Road’ treks further back, to Allman Brothers-style blues-rock. Oh yeah.

8/10

Out Friday, March 21