March 24, 2004
My Morning Reverb
I picked up my copy of September 2003 issue of CMJ New Music Magazine and saw the subhead for Steve Kllinge's peice on the band "My Morning Jacket." It read: "Reverb: That's What's Happening." And so I skipped the article.
Now, what's wrong with reverb?
Everything. Almost. Well, close anyway.
Reverb is, musically speaking, an oddball concept. I already heard it the first time. What makes you think I'll like it better just because it's echoing and fading away? Are you attempting to repeatedly assail me with the sound so I like it more? It seemed to me the idea was, "if you don't like a chord or a lyric the first time, you'll catch the echo and then fall in love with it."
"No. They aren't going to get me with that," I would tell myself.
"What?" I would respond.
I always speak to myself - but I don't always listen to myself.
What I did listen to was this record. I overcame my skepticism of reverb. I don't know if I was feeling especially tolerant that day. I'm not certain why I picked up this album. Okay, it was the bear on the cover draped in confetti streamers. I'm a sucker for bears on album covers draped in confetti streamers. What can I say?
This album was nothing that I expected, which is always enjoyable. What this record does well is soar. It's not a lyrically deep album. In fact, most of the tracks have very few lyrics and some have hardly any singing. What nearly every song does has is a huge level of audible effort. The drummer doesn't just keep beat or try to do his own thing. The drums add such tremendous depth to this music it's almost hard to highlight them too much. The guitar work is impressive, but not showy. Add keyboard and occasional sax to complete a very musically tight sound.
It's amusing that I always thought of reverb as a way to help musicians cover up their inadequacies. A fatter, fuller sound can hide a lot of looseness. But this is a band playing and working in complete coordination, while maintaining a very fluid style.
I'm very impressed. And it's not just impressive. It's great music.
So, did I overcome my anti-reverb bias? Yep. And My Morning Jacket's It Still Moves provides the perfect road to recovery.
12-Steps to Overcoming Disgust of Reverb
01 - "Mahgeetah": I love the sound of the guitar on this track. I want to sound like this. But, um, what the heck is this guy saying? And who the what is a Mahgeetah? (Still a great track!)
02 - "Dancefloors": Easy to get into. The best way to describe this song is putting on a pair of very old, but very comfortable jeans. This track is quite accessible. It's straightforward, it feels good, and it just rolls. The sax adds a pretty sweet sound.
03 - "Golden": Classic country style drum beat, sweet vocals, killer harmonies, and some very nice guitar make this one of the standout tracks.
04 - "Master Plan": Builds quite a bit. Not my favorite, but a decent song.
05 - "One Big Holiday": Yeah! You can feel within 20 seconds that this is a GREAT track. Cool guitar picking leading into an amazing (mostly guitar) number. The drums feel really smooth and the bass just lets you right in the front door.
06 - "I Will Sing You Songs": Long and very sleepy - but great to listen to while reading.
07 - "Easy Morning Rebel": Welcome back to the country.
08 - "Run Thru": Turns into a thumping little track before it's over. The drums and guitar are so tight together, it's impressive. Not much singing, but if they're going to play like this, do I care?
09 - "Rollin Back": Please throw this track away. It's crap. Maybe I'll change my mind after hearing it some more, but it sure feels like it just wanders aimlessly, never finding what it's looking for.
10 - "Just One Thing": To me, this is THE track. I could listen to this for days. I did not like it until I'd heard it about five times. "And I want it so bad, it's the first thing I see when I wake!" he says - and you believe him.
11 - "Steam Engine": This is the little engine that couldn't. Couldn't get me to like it.
12 - "One in the Same": I love it when albums end like this does. The band picked a track that seems to conclude the record. "To all the people I've loved, don't think poor of me." Well, I don't think he loved me, but that's okay. I don't think poor of him anyway.
