My Morning Jacket has announced the release of their next studio album, The Waterfall II, set to arrive this Friday, July 10th. The material for the new record comes from the sessions for MMJ’s most recent studio release, 2015’s The Waterfall.

When The Waterfall was released five years ago, singer/guitarist Jim James had alluded to Rolling Stone that the band had actually produced enough songs to fit two albums. Now, after five years of waiting, fans will be able to hear the music that didn’t make it onto the first Waterfall for one reason or another.

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Some of the songs from The Waterfall II may already be familiar to fans, including “The First Time”, which appeared in the HBO series Roadies. There’s also the anti-gun violence anthem “Magic Bullet” that was shared in 2016, as well as “Welcome Home” which the band has debuted live in the past. One thing James made clear in an appearance on the Celebration Rock podcast in 2016 is that this is not merely a collection of scraps that weren’t good enough for The Waterfall in 2015.

“Listening, remember one thing: this is not a B-side album. These are not songs that we didn’t like as much as the ones that appeared on The Waterfall,” James said. “In fact, these are the E and F sides of a set of 3 albums including The Waterfall and The Waterfall II. It’s just the second half of a long snapshot of my life as an author until 2014, and of our group life when we lived and worked in this magical place that is Stinson Beach in California, and its surroundings, during these recording sessions, at a time of great creativity, joy, love, agony, and sadness.”

The global pandemic acted as a catalyst for the release of The Waterfall II, as James rediscovered one of the songs, “Spinning My Wheels”, while on walk early on during lockdown. According to a statement, James was struck by the lyrics, “hypnotized from doing the same old thing,” and felt compelled to finally release the music to the public.

“As so many of us feel out of tune and long for the world to be a better place, we have to look to nature and the animals and learn from them: learn to love, accept, move on, and respect each other,” James said. “We gotta work for it and change our ways before it’s too late, and get in harmony with love and equality for all of humanity and for nature too.”

My Morning Jacket will also hold a listening party on YouTube for The Waterfall II on Thursday (July 9th) at 9 p.m. ET ahead of the Friday release date. Tune in to the album listening party via the video player below.

My Morning Jacket The Waterfall II Listening Party

[Video: My Morning Jacket]

On July 15th, My Morning Jacket will be the featured musical guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where the band will perform material from the “new” record. CD and vinyl editions of The Waterfall II will be available on August 28th, and are available for pre-order here. Scroll down to see the full track list and album art.

The Waterfall II Track List:
01. Spinning My Wheels
02. Still Thinkin
03. Climbing The Ladder
04. Feel You
05. Beautiful Love (Wasn’t Enough)
06. Magic Bullet
07. Run It
08. Wasted
09. Welcome Home
10. The First Time

View Track List

 

[H/T JamBase]