Looks to us like he’s roastin’ a bowl. From his new solo album Regions Of Light And Sound Of God. He plays a completely sold out show at JB’s tonight.
ROLLING STONE: This album is the official solo debut of a rock star who really doesn’t need to make solo records. The singer-guitarist and main songwriter of My Morning Jacket, Jim James leads one of the most successful and consistently exciting bands in modern rock, a Southern Led Zeppelin with the futurist nerve of Radiohead. James has produced or co-produced most of his group’s records while racking up sublime collaborations on the side, including the superband Monsters of Folk and vocal work with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. How much more liberty and license could James enjoy on his own that he doesn’t get already? Here is his strange, devout, ultimately beguiling answer. Written and performed almost entirely by James, Regions of Light and Sound of God is nine flamboyantly spiritual songs wrapped in creamy electronics and set to funk and hip-hop beats. James’ whispery tenor and trademark bolts of falsetto fly through the same mountaintop echo he favors with My Morning Jacket but without that band’s earthy counterweight. It takes a while to get used to the enigmatic restraint and lack of heavy-rock action. The long slow-motion intro to the first track, “State of the Art (A.E.I.O.U.),” is more shadows than music, James’ tremulous croon and ghostly saloon piano hanging in inky reverb. MORE