My Morning Jacket has announced the release of its first full-length album in more than three years, is, and shared the album’s first single, “Time Waited”, along with a music video directed by acclaimed music photographer Danny Clinch.
Due out March 21st via ATO Records, is represents a departure from the creative process of MMJ’s previous albums, all nine of which were produced or co-produced by frontman Jim James. This time, the band welcomed three-time Grammy-winning producer Brendan O’Brien, who has worked with Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, and many other chart-topping bands, to help push the group in a new and unexpected direction.
“Up until now I’ve never been able to let go and allow someone else to steer the ship,” James said of working with O’Brien. “It almost felt like an out-of-body experience to step back and give control over to someone who’s far more accomplished and made so many more records than us, but in the end I was able to enjoy the process maybe more than I ever have before.”
Starting with over 100 demos that the band recorded during two “highly exploratory” writing and recording sessions, My Morning Jacket honed in on ten tracks that comprise the album. “One of the cool things about being around this long is that we’re not afraid to scrap something if we don’t absolutely love it,” James said.
“It feels really great to have a collection of songs we all love this much, and to know that we worked as hard as we possibly could on them. Hopefully those songs will be helpful to people and give them some kind of peace as they try to deal with the insanity of the world – because that’s what music does for me, and doing the same for others is always my greatest dream come true.”
Addressing the album’s unusual title, James said, “I like how the word is indicates a sense of presence in the now – there’s no logic or rationale behind this record; it just is. All these songs came into existence out of an attempt to connect with something beyond the human experiment, which for me is one of the most beautiful things about music – that connection with something larger than us, yet something we are all equally a part of.”
Along with the album announcement, MMJ shared lead single “Time Waited”, which started with a sample of a piano part from pedal-steel virtuoso Buddy Emmons’ classic album, Emmons Guitar Inc.
“I made a loop of that piano intro and listened as I went for a walk, and all these melodies started coming to me,” James explained. “For a long time, I didn’t have lyrics, but then I had a dream where I was in a café and a song was playing, and the lyrics to that song became the lyrics to ‘Time Waited’ – the melodies just fit perfectly. And the lyrics are about how flexible time is, how we can bend and warp time, especially if we are following our hearts, the universe and time itself can flow to work with us.”
The single arrives with a music video that blends live performance footage with archival photos from throughout My Morning Jacket’s 27-year history, illustrating the song’s wistful tone while celebrating the band’s unique journey, which has been guided by the “undeniable force of loving,” according to James.
Watch the video for “Time Waited” by My Morning Jacket below or stream the track on your preferred streaming platform. Pre-save/pre-order is here. Scroll down to view the tracklist and album art.
My Morning Jacket will celebrate the album’s release with an extensive tour schedule to be announced soon. Check for updates and tickets for upcoming shows here. The band is also gearing up to host its One Big Holiday music vacation on April 3rd–5th at Miramar Beach, FL’s Seascape Resort, where the quintet will perform three unique headline shows alongside an all-star lineup featuring Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Devon Gilfillian, Dinosaur Jr., Karina Rykman, S.G. Goodman, and Futurebirds, with late-night silent jam performances by Karina Rykman, Eggy, and Illiterate Light, plus late-night campfire sets by Tyler Ramsey, Maggie Halfman, and Bendigo Fletcher.
My Morning Jacket – “Time Waited”
My Morning Jacket is Tracklist:
Out In The Open
Half A Lifetime
Everyday Magic
I Can Hear Your Love
Time Waited
Beginning From The Ending
Lemme Know
Squid Ink
Die For It
River Road