Jim James
Regions of Light and Sound of God
Louisville, KY
ATO Records
“MMJ vocalist drops perfect fusion of classical, jazz, funk & soul on solo debut”
If you’ve ever listened to a My Morning Jacket album, you may have wondered where all that diverse musical inspiration originates from. A singular source or more of a collective effort from all band members?
This album, perhaps, answers that question as MMJ’s bearded frontman perfectly fuses prodigious sounds of classical, alternative rock, folk, funk, soul and jazz into a singular cohesion of climatic musical joy – just as many MMJ albums have done.
The piano-led opener, “State of the Art (A.E.I.O.U)” emanates James’ curiosity of life and his ability to harmonize vowels to a progressive, funky bass rhythm.
The album’s first single, “Know Til Now,” is a trippy 6+ minute jam whose random arrangement reminisces MMJ’s “Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Pt.2” and is equally contagious to all the senses.
There’s also the sensual crooning on “A New Life,” which starts one way and ends another, the smooth and sultry progression of “Actress” and the uplifting instrumental “Exploding,” which provides further depth to the album.
Any song on this record – to the untrained ear – could easily be mistaken as a new MMJ song. And although that’s not really the case, it was, however, crafted by the one musical wizard behind all of them.
Produced by Jim James