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Think about all the indie rock guys who affect Neil Young-inspired vocals: there's J Mascis from Dinosaur Jr., David Baker from Mercury Rev, Wayne Coyne from Flaming Lips, and even Dean Wareham from Galaxie 500/Luna. My Morning Jacket leader Jim James doesn't affect anything. He may sing somewhat like Neil Young, but he also kind of talks like Neil Young. All those aforementioned indie icons have totally different speaking voices that don't match up with their singing voices. My Morning Jacket are the real deal. They're from Louisville, Kentucky. So rather than being indie rockers approaching a southern thing, they're southern boys approaching an indie thing, which is not only totally endearing but completely authentic. Their music seems to effortlessly traverse uncharted territory, from twangy rock to dream pop, touched with a little reggae and even some disco influences. And they sure do like the reverb. Gobs of reverb. They slather it like ranch dressing all over the damn place, but it totally works. Rather than sounding like geeky shoegazers with a foot pedal fetish, they cast out lines of atmosphere; in fact My Morning Jacket's songs breathe worlds of atmosphere. The band was formed with ample help from James' cousin Johnny Quaid, a guitar player who seems to have grown up on 'ludes and Slowdive records. Rounded out with a versatile rhythm section comprised of Two-Tone Tommy and J. Glenn on bass and drums, the band's original lineup was a powerful quartet. Their first album, The Tennessee Fire, came out on Darla Records in 1999, but it was 2001's At Dawn that propelled them into indie darlingdom with their pastoral yet rather astral "The Way That He Sings," the perfect hybrid between indie and twangy. For this album, the drumming duties were handled by KC Guetig and they added Danny Cash on keyboards. Eerie melodies weave in and out of At Dawn as guitars and drums crash down like sonic avalanches, only to rise like a harmonious phoenix by the end of the album. Drummer Patrick Hallahan replaced Guetig by the time My Morning Jacket was ready to tour At Dawn in the States; then Cash and Quaid left the band when It Still Moves, their first major label album, was released. Carl Broemel took over guitar duties and Bo Koster was added as the band's keyboard player, just in time to record 2005's Z with John Leckie, who produced (among many things) the first Stone Roses album. |
