I love their albums, but I have no desire to see My Morning Jacket live. Everybody talks about what a great live band they are but based on clips I’ve seen, that means they jam a lot. And I hate jam bands.
But calling My Morning Jacket a jam band, or a great live act, sells them short. Based on 2008’s Evil Urges and their newest release, Circuital, this group is something I value much more — a great studio act.
I’m not familiar with the band’s pre-2008 work, but these last two albums take listeners on a journey the way great albums can. I don’t subscribe to the critical consensus that MMJ is the second coming, but they are pushing boundaries in exciting ways and I’m fully on board.
I’ve read several reviews of Curcuital that take shots at Evil Urges, calling the new record a return to form. That’s a reviewer’s crutch I’ve always despised — trashing the last release as a way to praise a new one — and I find it particularly silly in this case.
Evil Urges was my first exposure to My Morning Jacket and, perhaps because it didn’t represent a left turn for me the way it did for longtime fans, I find it pretty much flawless. It’s strange and creepy and wildly ambitious, sometimes funny and often sad.
Circuital maintains that record’s general tone, but dials things back a notch. There is no Cookie Monster-meets-Prince falsetto-growl jam like Evil Urges‘ ‘Highly Suspicious’ here, but there is the tongue-in-cheek shriek-rock of ‘Holding On to Black Metal.’
Circuital‘s two opening tracks start things off on a high, off-kilter note. The first is today’s SOTD, ‘Victory Dance,’ a sultry bass-driven number that kicks off the album with a gong and regal fanfare. Better still is the title track, which clocks in at more than seven minutes and segues from a hesitant ballad to a full-on alt-country rave-up.
The rest of the album is more traditional and consists mostly of mid-tempo mood pieces — this would be a great album to get high to, if you’re into that sort of thing. I’m not, but listening to an album like this in a cool car on a dark night is its own kind of buzz.
Hoping maybe someday come?
Should I wet the ground with my old tears
Crying over what’s been done?
Should I lift the dirt and plant the seed
Even though I’ve never grown?
Should I wet the ground with the sweat from my brow
And believe in my good work?
My good work, my good work, my good work.
Hey there, I’m flying up above
Looking down, on the tired earth
But I can see
I can see potential
Speaking through you
Speaking to you
From all of heavens possibility
Power, hey do you know how it work?
Hey do you know that the meek
They shall inherit the earth
But you should work
You should work
Yeah for yourself and the family
Should I hit the water or stay on dry land
Even though I never swam?
Take machete into the brush
Though at first there is no plan
Taste the warpaint on my tongue
As it’s dripping with my sweat
Place my gaze in the futures path
Seeing things that ain’t come yet
Hope to watch the victory dance
After the days work is done
Hope to watch the victory dance
In the evening’s setting sun
Hope to watch the victory dance
Over many lives to come
Hope to watch the victory dance
In the evening’s setting sun
Setting sun, setting sun, setting sun!
Meet Me In Montauk 
I like their sound, and I recall liking what you highlighted from their last album. And I do hear a bit of the Pink Floyd thing happening here, which might connect with kids wanting to get high while listening to the album. Still, like Pink Floyd, this stuff works even when you are perfectly within your senses.
This song has a good sound, but I can only imagine listening to it as the background song in an episode of China Beach. I don’t want to be on the drugs, but I can see where it would be an effective soundtrack for characters who are.
China Beach… rivaled only by The Class in the annals of short-lived but much-loved (by Amy) TV series.
Oh, I actually think China Beach had more viewers, and maybe lasted a bit longer than the Class:)