Southern rockers My Morning Jacket have always been a kind of enigma wrapped in a riddle in that they pay ode to classic rock and yet over the course of their seven albums have produced nothing but modern sounding rock music. A unique sound that they have pretty much stuck with because it separates them from the pack. On their latest release, The Waterfall, there is no reinventing of their self-created wheel. This time they’re turning to the past of progressive rock, Eighties synth pop and Philly soul. You’ll recognize tinges of The Stylistics, Pink Floyd, Yes and even The Band in songs like “Chest Fever”, “Tropics (Erase Traces)” and “In Its Infancy”. Despite all these different influences it still ends up sounding, the way they have put it together, like a record you would expect from these five guys. Oddly enough the subject matter of the album is largely about a relationship ending or a breakup while the accompanying music is rather peppy and upbeat. An interesting juxtaposition of an emotional purging with frivolity. It works! All these differences and influences add up to an album that gives the listener the sense of perfect musical balance.
My Morning Jacket – The Waterfall
