![]() ![]() My Morning Jacket’s three-album run consisting of soaring Southern rocker It Still Moves (2003), rhythmically dynamic Z (2005), and mishmash masterpiece Evil Urges (2008), remains impressive for the way the group’s songcraft and sonic identity evolved on record, in tandem with their reputation for being an unparalleled live act. Uniform Distortion is one of the key works in James’ discography, a combination of lyrical nuggets, humor, and unguarded rock guitar production that touched the “nerve endings” in a way James had not achieved since the peak of his main band’s recorded output, the best of which had ended a decade earlier. “Throwback” confronts the listener with the thoroughly modern social media scenario “scroll back in time through your account / Watch your face grow younger as real-time runs out.” However, one could locate the seeds of his lyrics on this group effort in his excellent 2018 solo album Uniform Distortion, particularly songs like “Throwback”. James’ version of thinking through television and nature and books comes not in the form of a thousand-plus page novel but the ninth full-length release from his band My Morning Jacket. I mean, I sort of consider myself to be a realist, and a lot of what I think seems very strange or kind of, you know, avant-garde-ish in the book is mostly just an attempt to be mimetic about how, kind of, the world feels against our nerve endings right now.” Speaking with Judith Strasser the year that book was published, Wallace said, “I grew up with television the same way I grew up with like, trees, you know, and parks and books. It is not unlike the modern restlessness with which David Foster Wallace conceived the popular culture-laden Infinite Jest (1996). ![]() ![]() Or meditating or reading a book.” My Morning Jacket by My Morning Jacket My Morning Jacket by My Morning JacketĬreating an album that addresses these forces and their effects is admirable. In a recent interview with, James shared his view that “we’ve all gotten swept away in this tidal wave of technology, and that we’re all drowning.” He specifically cited “social media” and “streaming content” as forces that resulted in his “missing out on nature, missing out on connecting with people that I love, and missing out on sitting and playing the guitar. Born of streaming television and face paint, this reverie is the most affecting contemplation on an album whose lyrical push for love and solidarity is occasionally weighed down by meandering music. Yet toward the end of the song, the singer is “down on bended knee / Praying to whoever might could save me.” After “The Devil’s in the Details” is over, and upon further listening, those contrasting elements are all of a piece. The effect is similar to the shock of seeing a Sonic fast-food restaurant appear in Terrence Malick’s religious/romantic film To the Wonder (2012). As James’ lyrics are often focused on vague spiritual yearning, the references to a Netflix series and beauty retailer seem absurd or crude, at least at first. In the song “The Devil’s in the Details”, James ponders a shopping mall, linking Stranger Things and Sephora with war, exploitation, and negative self-images. Halfway through My Morning Jacket‘s new self-titled album, some conspicuous brand mentions punctuate songwriter Jim James’ concern for how the comforts of modern life have a tendency to erase and destroy.
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