On May 31st 2011 Esquire published a Q&A with Jim James, done by Matt Sullivan. The original interview can be found here.
Keywords: coming soon
On the eve of his band's new album, Circuital, the My Morning Jacket frontman sits down to open up about solo projects, side projects, iTunes, and more or less the meaning of life. Also: sweating.
ESQUIRE.COM: You're a busy man — My Morning Jacket's sixth record, a live concert film the night of its release, a full tour, plus festivals, and now you've got this solo album. Which sounds like the most interesting part of it all, actually.
JIM JAMES: Yeah, it's coming along. It's been one of those things where — are you familiar with the Sly and the Family Stone album, There's a Riot Going On?
ESQ: Sure. With the red, white, and black American flag.
JJ: I read that he just rented a house somewhere and made the album casually, as he was doing other things. He was in his house, sitting in a chair, smoking a cigar and singing. Or Les Paul — he had a studio in his home and wired a microphone so he could sing while doing the dishes. It was made me want to make my own studio in my house and just record the album when I wanted to.
ESQ: Something tells me you were doing a little more than smoking a cigar and singing. I imagine you were playing one or two or twelve different instruments, too.
JJ: [Laughs] Yeah, I just wanted to do something fun, just play whenever I wanted to and just play everything I felt — all different kinds of instruments, messing around with everything.
ESQ: Nice. So now that you've done another album with the group, and something on your own, would you ever consider doing a collaboration along the lines of Monsters of Folk? Where has that gone since we last talked to you and Conor Oberst and M. Ward about it here in New York? You guys still keep in touch about all that?
JJ: Yeah, we keep in touch all the time. That sort of thing is all a matter of time, because everybody's so busy. I'm sure when the stars align hopefully we'll be able to do another one. I know we'd all like to.
ESQ: So, back to Circuital. You were recently in town here, celebrating the band's canon by playing one of one of your records live, in chronological order, each night for a week. Where does this new record fit in that canon, if you even call it that? A sixth record is a big deal.
JJ: For me it represents patience. We just feel, as a band, very calm right now, very peaceful. I don't want to say it's a reaction against the modern way of life and the speed of technology and stuff, but in some ways it is. I feel like we just wanted to make a record that was concise but patient within itself — not in a hurry to go anywhere.
ESQ: It does move along from track to track. Some people I've spoken to describe it as "a grower." But others are excited that the first single is fucking seven minutes and twenty-seven seconds long. Are you ever worried when you slow down a beat, that mass audiences will have trouble keeping up? Or are you even worried about mass audiences at this point, given your fanbase?
JJ: The old rule is always the same: Every time you put out a record, somebody hates it and somebody loves it. That's pretty much out of your control. We just had so much fun doing it. I look at it and smile every time I think about it.
ESQ: If you can call sweating your way through an abandoned gymnasium fun, I guess. But that's good that you're not too worried about where it goes beyond what you can do. I was talking to Wayne Coyne the other day about the Flaming Lips and they've got this crazy new distribution model where they're putting out a new song every month in, like, candy. But he was also admitting to me that only truly great bands — Radiohead, say, or even Kanye, or you guys — can take matters into their own hands. You ever think of releasing a studio album in a different way? Or is that what the live recordings do?
JJ: The live recording is definitely a way for a song to grow. I'm just such a fan of an album, you know? I feel like releasing one song at a time and all that — for me the world's going to split it all up into tracks anyway. People are going to buy it on iTunes. I'm not going to say I'm opposed to that. I just like the idea of things being in chunks. And the thing I think people don't ever think about anymore is that — I know that a lot of my favorite music, I did not like it when I first heard it. I'll still remember hearing Miles Davis for the first time and being like, "Man, I just really don't like this. What is all the hype about? What are people talking about?" But as you listen more or pick the record up two months later or two years later, it reveals itself to you in a different way as you've grown. That's kind of the coolest thing to me and the reason I don't really care about — I mean I do care, because, you know, you obviously want people to enjoy your work and it hurts when they don't — so I'm not saying I don't care. But at the same time, maybe somebody buys this new record and they love it. Maybe they buy it and they just don't like it, and they throw it on the shelf and a few years later they pick it up when they're going somewhere and it hits them. Just because a record is released in 2011 doesn't mean that it might not hit somebody until 2013 — if the world doesn't end in 2012.
ESQ: Speaking of growing, it was Dylan's seventieth the other day. I know he's kind of an idol to everybody, but you've got that cameo in I'm Not There, and as a great songwriter of our time, you've got to want to picture yourself that prolific at seventy.
JJ: I'd love to have a lifetime career. If you look at people like Dylan or Neil Young, people who have been there forever and who still make relevant music that people want to listen to — that would be amazing. I hope to be able to do that. But above all else, I feel like I just want to be happy. I don't know Bob Dylan at all, but I look at him sometimes and wonder if he's a happy person. I think the world values everything — success, fame, all this recognition shit — but I don't think people really sit down and think, "Is that person a happy person?" Do they go home alone at night and cry themselves to sleep over gold records and Grammys, or do they have a great family and a great life and great friends and really enjoy it all?" I don't know. I have no idea. I think that's one of the coolest things about Bob Dylan — that nobody really knows what the fuck goes on with him. And that's great. That's awesome. That's how it should be.
ESQ: Well I think your goal is a pretty good one. And speaking of I'm Not There, Todd Haynes is going to direct this webcast. What do you expect that to look like, sound like, feel like? It's bound to be strange in one way or another.
JJ: One of the things I really loved about I'm Not There was feeling so lost in it. It's such a psychedelic experience, and that's part of what I love about Todd's style. Oftentimes things are just not as your mind would expect them to appear — in his use of color, over-saturating, mismatching colors. I feel like we want to incorporate that into the film where it's very — I don't want to say confusing — but so things don't always look like they should be where they are.
ESQ: Sounds like you guys are going to be all over the damn place this summer. You got any time in Louisville for a little bourbon, barbecue, and down-home happiness? Or does the madness begin right now?
JJ: A little bit of both. It's going to be crazy, but we're trying to take a little more time just to get home. Home is good.
