Evil Urges
My Morning Jacket
Score:65
Reviewer: Justin Pearsall
Label: ATO (USA), Spunk (Australia), Rough Trade (UK)
Reviewed: May 25th '08, Released:2008
Following up Z, Metacritic’s equal-highest polling album of 2005, was never going to be easy for My Morning Jacket. Critical commendation and increased profile aside, the band essentially remade themselves, simultaneously producing that rare unequivocally great record. Perhaps inevitably then, Evil Urges struggles to consistently match the intensity and institution of Z. In fact, the band sound like a My Morning Jacket that have largely sidestepped the legacy of their last great move: hamming up the humour that gave weight and character to Z’s emotion, ploughing through soft Americana rock and briefly revisiting the innovation of their last release.
Of this three-headed approach by far the most successful material is that which confronts and continues the journey of their last work. Album opener and lead single ‘Evil Urges’ sets the bar exceedingly high. Built around the same spatial atmospherics and buoyant rhythms that propelled Z’s earlier tracks, Jim James’ vocals float over the soulful groove with a sultriness that resonates with Prince-like breathiness.
But too often Evil Urges sways moodily. ‘Highly Suspicious’, ‘Aluminium Park’ and ‘Remnants’ are sub-par efforts at best, reliant on big, repetitive riffs that quickly age. Coupling these mistakes with the lightweight country rock of ‘I’m Amazed’, ‘Sec Walkin’ and ‘Two Halves’ further weakens MMJ’s identity. While singularly these songs aren’t ‘that bad’, it’s not an output worthy of the band’s talents.
While it is perhaps unfair to place My Morning Jacket’s new album in such direct juxtaposition with their last, it is also the most obvious and natural thing to do. In such a comparison Evil Urges falls hugely short of its predecessor. And while this review has been exceedingly critical on the consistency and vision behind Evil Urges, as a standalone record there are enough moments of typical MMJ output to ensure that it is a better-than-average release. The problem with this, of course, is that MMJ have proved that they are a band capable of producing so much more. And for those aware of this fact, it’s hard not to feel a sense of disappointment in this.
