Louisville's Finest

Upon the release of My Morning Jacket's last album, "Z," the band was greeted with unabashed Radiohead comparisons and all but anointed one of the best live bands of their time. The bar being set so high, it's no small wonder they surpassed it with their newest effort, "Evil Urges." Short on spacey jams and long on good, old fashioned songcraft and emotion, "Urges" is the sound of a band becoming comfortable with fame and praise, and at the same time not letting it get to their collective heads.

Something potent certainly got into frontman Jim James' head on the Prince-meets-Kraftwerk head-scratcher "Highly Suspicious," but other than that the album doesn't hit many, if any, off-notes. "Look at You" is possibly the year's most heartfelt paean to love, and the soaring, solo-heavy "I'm Amazed" is my personal pick for the year's best song to date. The 2-part "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream" finds the Louisville quintet exploring their more experimental side, but it's balanced with excellent down-to-earth ballads like the lilting, introspective "Librarian" and the slow-burning faux-coda "Smokin' from Shootin'." Rough rockers "Aluminum Park" and "Remnants" round out the record's sound with sharp, crackling production and monster riffs.

Coldplay and Sigur Rós may have thrown down the quality gauntlet for the first half of 2008, but My Morning Jacket have crafted what could be considered the year's quintessential American rock record, not that they're interested in such labels. Unlike fellow festival-rock and touring favorites Moe, Phish, and even Dave Matthews Band, "Urges," and even more so "Z," have proven My Morning Jacket to be a stalwart live band expertly able to refine, distill, and articulate their sound in the studio with equally thrilling results as on stage.

Watching singer Jim James so eerily embody Bob Dylan circa-Rolling Thunder in Todd Haynes' "I'm Not There" begs the question of what he could be capable of if he embraced his inner rock-god. He's not quite there yet on "Evil Urges," but it's a big step in the right direction. As they say in the business, these boys are going places.