The Review - Top 10 Records of 2015 - #6 The Waterfall
Number 6
My Morning Jacket ‘THE WATERFALL’
A My Morning Jacket album takes time to warm up with me. Each and every single one. I found MMJ with ‘Evil Urges’ in 2008 and shrugged them off. Repeated listening’s and two concerts later I was a convert. ‘The Waterfall’ follows this same formula: a slow burner that takes some time to grow on you/me. But once warmed up you start to hear things that make My Morning Jacket one of the more exciting bands doing it today. ‘Compound Fracture’ & ‘In Its Infancy’ hold so many sounds and twists that help this album (and previous MMJ projects) reflect back to that special early 70’s era sound of bands like Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Allman Brothers and even Led Zeppelin. The album holds an utterly heartbreakingly honest falling out of love song, ‘Get the Point’, following two people moving on for no other reason than they’ve simple moved on without each other. Could you sum up a relationship that’s sputtering better than
“We put the needle on the line
It just kept skipping”?
The standout track here for me is ‘Spring (Among the Living)’. The song sums up exactly how my interest and affinity for each MMJ album goes: a slow start, then to a building drum beat and closing with an orchestral backed Jim James scream filled crescendo!
My Morning Jacket - Spring (Among The Living)