My Morning Jacket hand the reins to veteran rock producer Brendan O’Brien (Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen) on is, their 10th studio album due March 21 from ATO Records. The piano-forward first single “Time Waited” is out now in tandem with a video directed by rock photographer and filmmaker Danny Clinch.
The song was inspired by a sample of a piano melody taken from pedal steel guitarist Buddy Emmons album Emmons Guitar Inc., atop which frontman Jim James wrote new melodies. “For a long time, I didn’t have lyrics, but then I had a dream where I was in a café and a song was playing, and the lyrics to that song became the lyrics to ‘Time Waited’ – the melodies just fit perfectly,” he recalls. “And the lyrics are about how flexible time is, how we can bend and warp time, especially if we are following our hearts, the universe and time itself can flow to work with us.”
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James, bassist Tom Blankenship, guitarist Carl Broemel, drummer Patrick Hallahan and keyboardist Bo Koster whittled 100 demos down to the 10 songs on is. “I like how the word is indicates a sense of presence in the now — there’s no logic or rationale behind this record; it just is,” adds James. “All these songs came into existence out of an attempt to connect with something beyond the human experiment, which for me is one of the most beautiful things about music — that connection with something larger than us, yet something we are all equally a part of.”
James admits yielding the production decisions to O’Brien “almost felt like an out-of-body experience to step back and give control over to someone who’s far more accomplished and made so many more records than us, but in the end I was able to enjoy the process maybe more than I ever have before.”
is is the follow-up to 2021’s self-titled affair and will be supported by a yet-to-be announced tour. My Morning Jacket will also host their One Big Holiday destination festival on April 3-5 in Miramar Beach, Fla., with special appearances by Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Devon Gilfillian, Dinosaur Jr., Karina Rykman, S.G. Goodman and Futurebirds.
Here is the track list for is:
Out in the Open
Half a Lifetime
Everyday Magic
I Can Hear Your Love
Time Waited
Beginning From the Ending
Lemme Know
Squid Ink
Die for It
River Road
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