Wall Street Journal (2008)

On June 7th Wall Street Journal publish an interview with Jim James and Patrick Hallahan, done by John Jurgensen. The original interview can be found here.

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Formed a decade ago in Louisville, Ky., My Morning Jacket is by definition a Southern rock band. But while the influence of the Allman Brothers and other acts in that tradition can be heard in My Morning Jacket's expansive guitar suites, the group has tackled increasingly diverse styles over the years. On its fifth studio album, "Evil Urges," coiled funk tracks in the style of Prince adjoin soft-rock songs that Christopher Cross could have sung in the 1970s. The album unfolds in stages, says band leader and songwriter Jim James, with the goal of reaching a broad range of listeners. But even Mr. James's bandmates were perplexed when they heard some of his first rough demos. Of the new-wave romp "Highly Suspicious," drummer Patrick Hallahan says, "My initial reaction was pretty much, 'What in the hell is this?' " But during rehearsals in Colorado the band easily fell into step. "After a while we were having so much fun with it. I think people are going to put down their barriers," Mr. Hallahan says. Uniting the album are songs done in the quintet's signature style: galloping rock steered by the high, echoing voice of Mr. James. These elements haven't led to radio hits for the band (though its representatives are aiming to change that with the new album). Instead, live concerts are at the core of My Morning Jacket's popularity with fans and critics. Mr. James (by email) and Mr. Hallahan (by phone) described a few songs on "Evil Urges," which will be released Tuesday.

Evil Urges
On the lead-off track (which the band gave away free on the Web in April), Mr. James's already reedy voice adopts a Bee Gees falsetto. Despite the threatening title, the song is upbeat. It breaks into a run at the halfway point, driven by dueling guitars. Mr. James says the song took shape while he was on a walk. "I get a lot of my ideas for things on walks when my blood is pumping in my ears," he says.

I'm Amazed
Mr. James used a drum machine and a home recorder to capture the structure of this song, which includes a straight-ahead rock beat and the title's declaration, repeated in harmony. He says the song is a statement about "things that amaze me, both good and bad, and how it disrupts my brain, good or bad."

Thank You Too
A delicate, reverbed guitar and shimmering strings lend this song a 1970s soft focus. "It had an R&B Motown feel to it in my head," says Mr. Hallahan, who helped set the song's laid-back pace. "We wanted to make this a sweet song that you could slow dance to, you could sway to or you could make love to."