As if to make that very point, Evil Urges is without doubt, the most song-oriented release from My Morning Jacket to date. In fact, at times there is almost a Steely Dan like studio sheen present here. Not to fear however. With a running time of something like 75 minutes — in seventies terms that would almost make this a double album — Evil Urges allows MMJ plenty of room for the sort of stretching out that fans have come to expect from this band.
At the same time, this is still the band's most song-oriented effort to date. On a first listen, there is not a riff here that sticks out in the same way that "Off The Record" from Z did. But if the melodically driven harmonies of "I'm Amazed" don't constitute the closest thing that this "jam band" has ever come to a single, I simply don't know what could.
The title track "Evil Urges," likewise offers up a lilting melody over a hard funk backbeat that gets under your skin in a way that is impossible to resist. The funk goes deeper still on "Highly Suspicious."
The fact is, for a so-called "jam band," My Morning Jacket shows itself as a band with a unique way with a hook here.
The bottom line here is that fans of MMJ's reputation as a band known for, you know "stretching things out," in their live shows have little to fear here. But on Evil Urges, it is also apparent that they are honing their songcraft.
Evil Urges will be in stores June 10.
Article comments
1 - BH
Try not to make is so obvious that you stole the CD. It's not "Hard & Suspicious", it's Highly Suspicious.
2 - Glen Boyd
An honest mistake that I thank you for pointing out. Just for the record, I came by the album equally honestly. The record company sent me an advance, in a plain sleeve without the titles printed on it. We music writers get a lot of music this way.
So, how did you happen across your copy?
-Glen