My Morning Jacket released their first album in four years (and from my count their seventh LP), The Waterfall. I've basically just been listening to this album incessantly for the past week,***

** TANGENT ALERT ** It's so annoying that Spotify doesn't have analytics that I can access about how many times I've listened to a song or album - in fact, it's incredibly annoying that Spotify doesn't have any analytics that I can pore over for ANYTHING. They've actually made the social aspect more difficult as time has gone on. I can't really tell who follows my playlists, I never know when people are listening to my playlists - which would be a pretty helpful indicator about what is working and what isn't - and I have no idea about how often my playlists, songs, or albums, are listened to by me or followers on Spotify. Why Spotify, why?? That being said, please tell me if you like certain stuff!

***and I cannot be happier that I get to see MMJ perform this album live at The Masonic (a great and pretty intimate venue for GA tickets) in San Francisco in October. There are certain albums like this one that just sound BIG, and I think this one will really resonate live.

My Morning Jacket continually changes directions in their sound, so I'm always excited to hear something a tad different each album. The Waterfall is a pretty great album that flows well from front to back. MMJ has a sound that's almost uncontainable, especially when you factor in Jim James' wails and screams in his trademark falsetto.

I saw them live once on their Circuital tour at an amphitheater in South Florida with maybe 500 other people. I still remember how shocked MMJ was at how few people were in attendance. Jim James looked to guitarist, Carl Broemel, shrugged his shoulders, and they just rocked the place. Their ability to translate their songs to a live setting is one of the main reasons they're thought to be one of the best live acts around.

Speaking of the best, the album's best track is "Compound Fracture," an upbeat song with some real pop and soul, more than MMJ's country rock roots, but even when they venture outside of their lane, they know how to steer. I loved "Compound Fracture" the first time I heard it and can't imagine I'll stop listening for a long while.

Two other tracks on this album, the breezy "Like a River" and another one of the standout tracks, "Spring (Among the Living)," really reminded me of the overall feel of The Last Broadcast by Doves, an underrated album back from 2002. Maybe it's just the clean acoustic guitar, but "Like a River" reminded me a bit of "M62 Song:"

And I thought "Spring (Among The Living)" reminded me of the beginning of "There Goes the Fear:"

The Waterfall runs on a theme of water, its never ending flow and seemingly endless supply stream rampant through our lives and veins, yet as humans this breath of life is finite. We live before we die, we attempt to swim through the currents, sometimes we drown. "Time has come / world in motion / Heart of man swept into the ocean / like a river flowin' / like a river washes away," James sings in "Like A River."

This idea of water, life, and death plays itself throughout the album as James seems to be wandering himself. In "Spring (Among the Living)" he's among the living although he didn't think he'd survive. Despite being alive and well, he still has questions as "the answer floats on down the farthest shore of the mind." I thought it was interesting that MMJ recorded this album not too far from San Francisco, in a mansion in Stinson Beach (where Jerry Garcia once lived) overlooking the infinite Pacific, the water their wake up call.

The album's centerpiece, "In Its Infancy (The Waterfall)," deals with the power of the endless waterfall. "Can it be stopped?" James wonders before determining that he can stop it by thinking, breathing, feeling, and believing. It's a state of mind that conquers that which we see as a never-ending obstacle. The first twenty seconds of the song reminds me of "One Big Holiday" from It Still Moves:

which then leads into (around 0:35) some super heavy keys sounding like "Victory Dance" from their last album in 2011, Circuital:

and then the song abruptly becomes a little Fleetwood Mac-esque with the harmonies and the shimmering guitar solo. The brilliance of the song comes next when the track cycles back to the same part that began the song, but then takes an unexpected turn (at 2:33) as the song just starts rocking the hell out with some loud guitars, sweet riffs, killer solos and a trippy ass keyboard throwing some crazy pitch changes that vibrate through my eardrums. The song then closes out as it returns to the second part of the song that I compared to "Victory Dance."

There are also some tender songs on this album, like "Get The Point" and the final track "Only Memories Remain," where James wistfully remembers being with his love, "For a time there by the sea / there was only you and me / in a land that time forgot."

As a whole, the album has many different feels and sounds yet it never feels disjointed. That's truly a difficult accomplishment, but it's hard to expect less from these talented musicians.

I'll end with one of my favorite lines from the album, a credo to live by as Jim James sings it on "Compound Fracture," "There is life and love and sound / Get as much as you can keep around."

Overall: 8/10