Question: What's going on with the new My Morning Jacket record?In a 2011 LexGo interview James explains how the band had a heated session in the summer.
Jim James: We're trying to do it all live. Even the vocals. You know, the traditional Motown style of just literally playing the song over and over and over again until you get a take when everybody felt the spirit. The first two records for us were building blocks, where you lay down the drums, lay down the bass, build a wall of vocals over it. Starting with “It Still Moves,” we've always tried to build the core tracks live and then overdub vocals.
When you make a record, you want to make something that's going to be satisfying every time you listen to it — so there's a certain amount of perfectionism. We're trying to go for a certain amount of (perfectionism), but at the same time, you get a take that has the spirit in it, that still has a couple of mistakes, that's better.
"It was very sweet. We had one session in the summer. It was so hot. But the heat really brought us together. I feel like you can hear the heat in the air in those songs. We just wanted it to be natural, where we were getting our main performances in one take. It just turned out that this beautiful old church gym where we set up to try some stuff out worked perfectly. And being in Kentucky, close to family and friends, gave us that full-circle feeling."- Jim James
(LexGo interview, April 2011)
In the same interview Patrick Hallahan explains how the band previously had worked out of their comfort zones, but that they chose a different direction this time around. "
For our last couple of albums, we intentionally put ourselves in situations that weren't in our comfort zones. We did that just to see what it would yield, because you don't want to get caught in a rut. But then we very much wanted to come back to Louisville this time. Everything started out as a demo session. We didn't even know at first that we would be making an album. It ended up working out very organically."
- Patrick Hallahan(LexGo interview, April 2011)In an Rolling Stone interview published on August 5th 2010 Jim James stated that the band had five songs done and that they'd worked a couple weeks at that point, and would continue for another month (Rolling Stone). He also said that the album would probably be out mid-2011, possibly in May. Furthermore James mentioned that the band would be recording the upcoming album in Louisville.
"We're recording it in a church in Louisville. We've never made a record in Louisville before."- Jim James
(Rolling Stone interview, August 2010)
In an interview with The Republican, published on August 19th 2010, Carl Broemel said that the band was about halfway finished with the new record.
"We've been working in Louisville. We've been working at a church that has a bunch of different rooms in it, we've been setting up and recording. We're just taking it real slow and real relaxed. It has been really fun so far; I don't want to jinx it, but I'm super stoked so far."- Carl Broemel
(The Republican interview, August 2010)
In a 2010 New York Post interview, published on October 10th James again stated that the then untitled LP should be completed by spring 2011. On March 28th 2011 it was confirmed that the album would be released on May 31st 2011.
Recording process
Broemel also confirmed that the recording process for the record was different from previous records. More specifically in the way that the process was more spontaneous, with the band taking rough demos into the studio and recording in the same room together.
"It's primarily a live album."- Carl Broemel
(The Republican interview, August 2010)
In an interview with Democrat and Chronicle published on August 26th Patrick Hallahan also commented on the new recording being different from previous albums.
"[With]More emphasis on capturing a performance, versus building a song in terms of overdubbing. We've done five songs; everything is live. If somebody screws up, we roll the tape back, start it over again. All five of us were walking away from the first recording session all smiles and jubilation. If it's good enough for Motown and good enough for Stax, it's good enough for us, for damn sure."- Patrick Hallahan
(Democrat and Chronicle, August 2010)
Recording
Initially there was some confusion over where the band was actually recording, as different interview claimed that they were recording in either a church or a gymnasium. Eventually it was clarified that the band had been recording in a gymnasium that is part of a church (Stereogum).
“We made the record in a gymnasium back home in Louisville,” says James, “It’s part of a church that was built in the 1800s, so it’s this really old, wooden building with 50 foot ceilings."- Jim James
(Stereogum interview, March 2011)
The band set up a control room on the stage and then played out on the floor, on a basketball court.
"We recorded everything to tape right there in the gymnasium. The record really feels more circular in nature, mostly because we played just standing in a circle there on the floor. There is this cool thing that happens when you are all playing live in one room and everyone’s sound is bleeding together in all of the mics. It’s like all these points being connected in time, unlike most recording where everything is isolated and then blended together later in a machine. That’s kind of where the title of the record came from — it was like we were all connected in this one continuous circuit. There was a little bit of overdubbing that happened on a couple of the songs, but for the most part things were recorded live in one or two takes … and that’s what you hear on the record."- Jim James
(Stereogum interview, March 2011)
In the 2010 Stereogum interview James also explains how the band had what he calls Boy Scout kinds of challenges while making the record.
"The fun part this time was that we had all of these Boy Scout kinds of challenges while making the record. If something fucked up, we’d just have to figure out how to fix it with bubble gum and duct tape. Like, we literally had to pitch a tent around the drum kit at one point…which, oddly, none of us knew how to do."- Jim James
(Stereogum interview, March 2011)
In the same Stereogum interview Patrick Hallahan reflects on how recording live changes the recording experience.
"The live recording aspect really affects the way you play. It really changes the performances and makes everyone better. Everyone has to play perfectly together in order to make that take. You never want to be the one who screws it up."- Patrick Hallahan
(Stereogum interview, March 2011)
"It was literally like kids building forts. We be moving around big piles of sound baffling and stacking them up around us to get different sounds. It was ridiculous … but also really fun. Going in, we honestly had no idea if it would work or not."- Carl Broemel
(Stereogum interview, March 2011)
"Going back to a regular studio to mix things was such a buzz kill after recording in that gym. It was going back to a doctor’s office or something."- Bo Koster
(Stereogum interview, March 2011)
Recording in Louisville
“It’s been wild. We’ve never done one in the ‘Ville before. It’s been great, and it’s given us a different take on the town as well. We’re in a classic gymnasium, recording all live and bonding in the heat and in the absence of technology. No computers, no AC. Just us and God. God and us, I should say.”- Jim James
(NJ.com interview, August 2010)
"It always feels good to be home, and we had actually never recorded in Louisville proper before. We made our first three records in Shelbyville, which is maybe half an hour away. But I've always written 90% of the songs in Louisville. So it was pretty exciting and cool to be at home and actually make the record here."- Jim James
(Toronto Sun, May 2011)
"I try to let the universe dictate what is supposed to happen with our music. I feel there are always certain energies pulling you in a certain direction and I try to listen to that. For this record, we decided to come back to rehearse and we found this beautiful old church space where we ended up making the record. At first we were just going to go rehearse in it, but we loved it so much that it just made sense to stay and make the whole record in there.And at that point, it became about us embracing home and enjoying that."- Jim James
(Toronto Sun, May 2011)
