My Morning Jacket
The Waterfall (ATO/Capitol)
Reviewed by Doug Freeman, Fri., Aug. 7, 2015
As Jim James chants the title of "Believe (Nobody Knows)" to a swollen close in leading off his Kentucky quintet's seventh studio album, it's as much a declaration of intent as of faith. Anthemic and sweeping, the opener serves as proper invocation to the Church of MMJ, and following the reset of 2011's Circuital and an intervening solo foray by James, the band achieves a new level of sophistication. Waterfall explores without veering off track – soulful rocker "Compound Fracture," slippery psychedelic "In Its Infancy (the Waterfall)" – but the frontman couples his spiritual grandeur with the intimacy of a relationship. "Get the Point" and "Big Decisions" strike a personal honesty James hasn't revealed before, and closer "Only Memories Remain" hearkens George Harrison as simultaneously devastating and uplifting. The personal is the universal. (My Morning Jacket liquefies the Austin Music Hall Oct. 22 & 23.)
