If you don’t count the band’s wistful Christmas collection, Happy Holiday!, is* is (*not a typo, My Morning Jacket are intentionally making it difficult to write about their new LP by titling it ‘is’) the Kentucky alt country band’s first studio album since their 2021 self-titled full-length. Now over a quarter of a century into a career that kicked off, incredibly, on Darla Records, one of the earliest online indie music distributors best known for their Bliss Out series of ambient and electronica, My Morning Jacket continues to do what they have done predictably decently since their last lineup change in the early 2000s.
is starts strong with “Out In the Open”, a song that, instrumentally, sounds like something The National may have conjured if Matt Beringer decided to write lyrics that were more straightforward and less open to interpretation. “Everyday Magic” has a retro feel reminiscent in tone to George Harrison’s songwriting on his 1987 pop album, Cloud Nine. Brendan O’Brien’s production on “Time Waited” is commendable, taking the song’s plaintive theme and shooting it through with hope via frontman Jim James’ soaring vocal take during the track’s chorus.
So much of this album, lyrically, concerns the passage of time, and “Beginning from the Ending”, the first song on is’s second side, is no exception. There aren’t too many original ideas here, but there is a fine guitar solo in the song’s last minute. With its sprightly electronic piano and uptempo drumming, “Lemme Know” is the most peppy is gets. The bluesy “Squid Ink” takes an odd turn with its repeated idiosyncratic lines, “Why can’t I forget your face? Been down in the squid ink too long!” Huh?
is is concluded with the odd “Die for It”, a moment that starts, confusingly, like something that could paradoxically only be described as psychedelic yacht rock during the song’s verses before shifting into dynamic 80’s hard rock during the choruses. My Morning Jacket’s bluesy vibe returns for is’s just OK ender, “River Road”. Although every other song has one or two lyrical clichés dropped in, Jim James’ vocals sound good, and Brendan O’Brien’s production makes most of is an enjoyable listen. Still, for an album that collects ten songs in forty minutes, is feels longer than it should.
Rating: 6.8/10
