My Morning Jacket- "Holdin On To Black Metal"

Oddly enough, out of all the tracks on their new album Circuital, My Morning Jacket's joke-ish "Holdin On To Black Metal" is the first to get the music video treatment. The clip unrolls like some sort of strange acid trip, featuring a number of strangely smiling people in a bar lit by that same eerie green light that is featured on the album's cover. The trippy bar scene, complete with random primitive animations, is awkwardly and confusingly interspliced with footage of the band performing live on the massive stage at Bonnaroo this year. I guess it's supposed to be purposefully cheesy, in the same way that the song itself is sort of cheesy.

Of course, tons of angry metal fans have already started downrating the video into oblivion because it doesn't actually have anything to do with metal. Oh, Youtube.

Circuital is out now on ATO Records. Buy it here at the band's official site and watch the TND review here.

My Morning Jacket- Circuital

My Morning Jacket's latest album was a two-part surprise for me. First, I was happy to hear how alive and ambitious the first half of this album was. Not only are the hooks and instrumentation strong, but the band seems equally comfortable saying something beautiful or funny with their lyrics. But the second shocker was when the latter half of this record pulled the rug out from under me with some pretty underwhelming songwriting and vocal deliveries. While it's nice to have some familiar reference points on this album--which show up in some tried and true chord progressions and melodies--My Morning Jacket doesn't exactly refurbish these ideas in a very exciting way.

I am literally split on this album. Some points really seduce me, but others make me feel like the steam just ran out halfway through. Dang!

WATCH THE REVIEW

My Morning Jacket- "Holdin On To Black Metal"

Stream: My Morning Jacket- Holdin On To Black Metal It's the 2nd track to drop from MMJ's forthcoming LP, Circuital. Digging the larger-than-life choruses here, and the horns are a nice touch, too. This is gearing up to be a really ambitious record! Look for its release on May 31st via ATO Records.

My Morning Jacket- "Circuital"

MP3

A 7-minute introduction to the forthcoming My Morning Jacket LP, Circuital. The introduction is a little slow, but when the instrumentation jumps in after 1/3 of the track, it's pretty heavenly. I can smell the pollen and feel the sun on my face with this one.

Circuital is due for a May 31st release on ATO.