In My Morning Jacket’s new album, Is, Jim James sings, “Watching the ending / Remembering how it started.” He’s talking about existential issues, but he could be talking about his band, given that 25 years and ten records is a good time to take stock (fortunately, there’s no ending here). It’s a sentiment that suits the LP well, given that My Morning Jacket find plenty of happiness but take time to focus, not only in their thinking, but also in their tight songs. James has said the title refers to being in the present, but little about Is sounds off-the-cuff; the group’s work for precision leads to an album that sounds loose and easy.
With “Out in the Open”, Is begins with an ukelele riff reworked over a steady on-the-beat drum, James’ vocals left nearly alone in space as he sings of a liminal space between past and present, the known and the unknown. As the group join in, he finds “the light of the sun” and an increasing illumination. The song moves from the singer’s timidity about his exposure into the joy he finds in this freedom. Mainly built on a looping pattern, the cut epitomizes where the band are now. My Morning Jacket maintain a careful structure – there’s little of the jam band feel to it – while still capturing the energy and atmosphere they’re known for.
The restraint might owe at least a little something to Brendan O’Brien, the first outside producer the band have worked with. My Morning Jacket often let their songs and albums run long, and here, having cut through 100 or more song ideas, they stay focused on songwriting. These ten tracks typically run about four minutes, with no excessive notes, and the LP comes in at just under 40 (compare that to the expanse of breakthrough At Dawn). The approach offers an easy entry into their music; My Morning Jacket sound in many ways like themselves, but even more accessible.
That ease puts them on a fine line. “Everyday Magic” has a classic rock groove that, with cleaner guitars or different vocals, would go down too easily. Instead, My Morning Jacket keep it locked into their sound, letting the groove lead into a bridge that keeps them from wandering into AOR territory. Piano ballad “Time Waited” likewise nods at AM radio, but stays hooky and distinctive enough to work. They might often sound their best in spacey atmospherics and wandering tunes, but finding tight structures and focused delivery serves them well, too.
Not all of Is is that easy. “Squid Ink” uses Southern funk for a strange mix that turns slightly more abrasive and oblique than much of the album, a perfect textural shift at just the right time. That shift, as much as anything, makes sense in a My Morning Jacket album, moving between styles while maintaining coherence through a broadly conceptualized aesthetic.
Here it suits the sequencing, leading into the darker “Die for It”, from which the band can move into the meditative “River Road”, where James’ line of thinking about sharing secrets and being known suggests the ideas behind “Out in the Open”. This time, the singer doesn’t consider a more significant revelation in the sunlight, but the wonder of intimate knowledge.
Is moves not in a circle, but in a spiral, a series of thoughts through a sequence of styles leading to new thoughts on key themes. It’s the sort of experience best brought about through careful craft, which My Morning Jacket utilize throughout Is without any sacrifice of the reach so essential to their long-running success.