Album Review: My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges (3.5/5)

I expected to really love Evil Urges, the fifth album from My Morning Jacket. Like Wilco, the band was once known for southern rock but has since expanded the scope of their sound. That band's 2007 album, Sky Blue Sky, was a favorite last year. By comparison, Evil Urges is more eclectic but not as consistent.

Most of the opening tracks are among the album's best. "Evil Urges" is the funky opener, a warm but sometimes sinister blend of electric guitar, strings and drums with a falsetto vocal.
"Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Part 1" has an entirely different vibe--mellower, more electronic--not unlike The Flaming Lips. "Highly Suspicious" has more of a glam rock strut. Then there's "I'm Amazed," which reminds me vaguely of Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion." "Thank You Too" is my favorite track, bathed in twangy electric guitar and strings that soar during the chorus. It has a warm, comforting sound with a laid back feel.

After that, most of the rest of the album is pretty good, but not excellent. "Sec Walkin'" has a nice country twang to it, but feels awfully repetitive, as does "Look at You," another countryish ballad that appears in the middle of the disc. "Librarian" has a very repetitive vocal too, but the underlying music slowly builds, which I like. It's a touching, almost meditative love song.

There are faster songs too, like "Two Halves," which has a bit of '50s feel to it, and up-tempo "Aluminum Park" and "Remnants" with prominent electric guitar. The latter would have benefited from a vocalist with a little more heft than Jim James--such as The Editors' Tom Smith. "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Part 2," like Part 1, is more electronic than most of the other songs, although it has a very different vibe that Part 1--being both faster, weirder and longer, ending with a keyboard fade-out that finishes with the promised "scream."

This album would almost rate a 4. I like the eclectic approach, although some of the sounds, like the ballads and funky tracks are a better fit for the band than the harder rock ones. I listened to it a lot over the last couple of weeks, hoping it would improve with multiple listens. Some songs do stand out, and overall I like the album, but I just don't love it.

Best: Thank You Too, Evil Urges, I'm Amazed, Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Part 1, Librarian