My Morning Jacket

Z - 2006

Classic rock is the new face of indie rock. It doesn't matter if it's the psychedelic-inspired rock of Dungen, the skronk and pop of Wilco, or the southern rock of My Morning Jacket—classic rock, in its most generic meaning, is making a huge comeback. All we need now are the Kiss make-up, the expensive pyrotechnics, and Rick Nielsen novelty guitars. However, Z doesn't rely on fancy get-ups and cheap tricks. My Morning Jacket refuse to be molded into the next southern rock saviors, and the band's fourth full-length album moves farther away from traditional chops and into some uncharted territory for a band who records in silos on Kentucky farms.

Z begins humbly, with "Wordless Chorus," a sweet nothing of a song built around a skittering beat, a sexy coo, and an angelic choir. It sounds like foreplay and afterglow all at once. The next song, "It Beats For You," weaves together Pink Floyd, Red House Painters, Will Oldham, David Crosby, and Radiohead into one meandering, quasi-mystical declaration of love, and the album holds onto that rope the rest of the way, adding new strands without pulling out the old ones. Z is sturdy enough to hold the sloppy, scream-along alt-rock of "What A Wonderful Man," the calliope turns of "Into The Woods," the pulsating power-pop of "Anytime," the elided southern stomp of "Lay Low" (which builds to a dual guitar jam that The Allman Brothers or Lynyrd Skynyrd would be happy to claim), and the delicate piano balladry of "Knot Comes Loose," enriched by slide guitar and the high-lonesome moan of singer-songwriter Jim James.

The record is undeniably the work of My Morning Jacket—all grandeur and pounding heart—but Z's take-a-shot spirit is bound up in the nutty, insanely catchy "Off The Record," which stacks up a stolen surf riff, a reggae rhythm, lurching vocals, and an extended, spacey coda. At first it sounds too wild and beastly to be any good, but the hook is as infectious as freedom, and around the third time through the song, doubts dissolve. If it takes some time to adjust to, it's only because it's hard to recognize a classic right away.