MY MORNING JACKET
Okonokos
Ato/RCA
· A sprawling and comprehensive document of My Morning Jacket live.
My Morning Jacket (MMJ) has long been acclaimed as one of the finest live bands around. Ever ambitious, the band decided to make Okonokos a huge, all-out monolith of a record that functions as both a representation of their live show as well as an effective summation of their career until now.
Making good use of the double-CD running time, the band picks songs from across their discography, from the moody country of "The Tennessee Fire" and "At Dawn" to the southern-fried rock of "It Still Moves" and lush experimental pop of "Z." Playing their instruments with both fire and precision, the songs sound tougher and bigger in a concert setting without losing the strong melodic beauty that has made the band critical darlings. Songs such as "Wordless Chorus" and "Anytime" have a soaring urgency that adds to their studio counterparts while "Dondante" is stretched past 11 minutes, going through a variety of moods.
Many of the songs are extended, but none of them are wanky, with the space jams always coming back to earth at the right moment. Singer-songwriter Jim James really proves his mettle on Okonokos, going from a gentle whisper to room-filling howl in the blink of an eye without sounding forced or tired. In fact, the entire band’s energy level throughout the album’s two-plus hour running time is fantastic. The rockier numbers crank up the feedback and bottom-end thump. On the more subdued tracks the band still sound like they’re firing on all cylinders.
Okonokos is a rarity among live albums in that the music is big and bold, but still beautiful, and with it, the band now has undeniable proof of their power onstage.
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