CIRCUITAL by My Morning Jacket

My Morning Jacket has managed to carve out a distinctive, recognizable and likable sound for itself, which is no mean feat. When I heard ‘Evil Urges’ for the first time, I was taken aback by the hold they seemed to have on groove, and I had that hateful feeling you get when you’re convinced a band you love has peaked. ‘Circuital’ proved me wrong. The record derives its name from the fact that the recording was done with My Morning Jacket playing together in a circle, but the heavy-handed reference to the groove was definite. Eerie, falsetto-driven vocals, the sort of low-end production that passes off for raw and an off-beat take on the traditional verse-refrain-verse formula packaged with shockingly tacky art-work make this a sleeper success to be cherished. The title song, ‘Circuital’ is a wave of staccato plucking, with a wistful melody peppered with up-beat acoustic strumming between verses. Think ‘The Killing Moon’ by Echo and the Bunnymen. In fact, the entire album sounds like an alternative sound-track to ‘Donnie Darko’, with the innocence-meets-disaster-contrast being evoked beautifully in ‘Victory Dance’, which resembles what a collaboration between Simon and Garfunkel and Type O Negative would sound like. ‘Wonderful (The Way I Feel)’ is your token finger-picked ballad with an overlay of strings. It also reflects their biggest strength. Sincere lyrics, that sound child-like, not childish. Lines like “Like a tropical forest, like a cop on the beat, when all is in order, you get lost in the heat” are difficult to find, and even more difficult to forget. ‘You Wanna’ Freak Out’ showcases an ascending chord progression and lyrics like a nursery rhyme, which offers the opportunity to let go, gently coaxing, never rushing, much like ‘Slow, Slow Tune’ which is now the first track on my rainy-day-love list. My favorite song on the record, of course, is the much-acclaimed ‘Holdin’ On to Black Metal’, which has phenomenal arrangement. School-girl choral backing vocals, horns and wah-pedals fight to be heard, and amidst the clamor comes out a eulogy to black metal. It is a sentiment I frequently ponder upon, and to find it resonating half the world away is a delight. The beauty of records like ‘Circuital’ is that even the weaker songs are so simply by comparison and criticism is largely academic. For instance, ‘The Day Is Coming’ grows on you, but it just is not ‘Holdin On To Black Metal’, and it lacks the urgency in its tone that the lyrics demand. Of course, with Jim James, that could entirely be on purpose.