Pitchfork

Kentucky-based My Morning Jacket have announced that they will release their newest album, simply titled Z, on October 4. To try to lump the band into one musical genre doesn't seem fair, as rock-country or alt-country or anything else would never cover all the bases. And with a band that seems perfectly able to channel Neil Young as much as Wayne Coyne, it is difficult to anticipate what's to except from this album, particularly as it features two new members (Bo Koster on keyboards and Carl Broemel on guitar). Drummer Patrick Hallahan was kind enough to talk with Pitchfork for a bit and give us some insight on what we can expect.

How would you describe the new album and its sound? "This one is totally different from everything else. It's the first album with two new members from the band...two new people and that's definitely going to change the sound a bit. They've opened up some new areas. It's a result of all of us growing up quite a bit. It's kind of a reflection of our attitudes on the state of the world. We could choose the low roads and be depressed; but we're choosing to be really positive. It's more spacious, as we took a kind of 'less is more' approach. More danceable, so to speak, but there are definitely rocking moments. We like music that moves you. That's definitely in there as well. This album is all over the place really."

What do you want to tell listeners about the album? "I just want to say that it's different; a sign of a new beginning, or I should say, the next step in the grand scheme of things of this band. I think with two or three years of non-stop, heavy touring, this is the band that came from all of that. We've all definitely grown as musicians and Jim has grown as a songwriter. We've grown together as a band and I think this album definitely represents all of that. We're all super proud of it. There's not one moment where any one one of us cringe. We put exactly what needed to be there; no filling up space. It's a little shorter, but we picked the cream of the crop."

And the crop stands as such:

01 Wordless Chorus
02 It Beats For You
03 Gideon
04 What a Wonderful Man
05 Off the Record
06 Into the Woods
07 Anytime
08 Lay Low
09 Knot Comes Loose
10 Dondante

Z will be the band's fourth full-length album. As for touring: "We took a long time off to make the album and collect our heads...but I think we're ready. We go to Japan in a week, so we're gonna start supporting this new album. We're ready to go."

The band will be playing at the Fuji Rock Festival in Niigata, Japan on July 30. Lead singer Jim James will also be playing a solo acoustic set at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island on August 7.

* My Morning Jacket: