My Morning Jacket Album: “At Dawn”

Having seen My Morning Jacket live a couple of times, both as a full band and as the Jim James solo act, I was eager to hear this album. This, MMJ's second full length, is a truly great follow-up to The Tennessee Fire. It is a little more laid back, a little more country-influenced, but not so much as to depart from their signature mix of pop, rock, and alt-country. The best part of this new album is that a second cd is included with the original versions of the songs as laid down by Jim with just his guitar. It offers us the chance to hear how the band sounds as a whole and as Jim's solo project. The bottom line is: if you like melancholy music with just enough fun and happiness to keep you interested, if you like melody and amazing vocal work, if you like good, earthy music, this is for you. However, if you're not very much into country, I recommend you start with their first LP, The Tennessee Fire, and work your way into this one. Wonderful music all around.

My Morning Jacket has rapidly evolved over its 4 albums, and the evolution is fascinating to follow. Its 1999 debut album "Tennessee Fire" was a journey into Americana, almost entirely based on dreamy, accoustic songs.

The band's second album "At Dawn" (14 tracks, 74 min.), issued in 2001, eloaborates on the themes explored in "Tennessee Fire" in many songs such as the title track, "Lowdown" and others. But the band expands its sound greatly, introducing the electric guitar on the brooding "Honest Man", an all-out rocker on "Strangulation" and even a slight reggae sound on "Phone Went West", forshadowing the "Off the Record" song on last year's "Z" album. In retrospect, this album is the perfectly logical middle link between "Tennessee Fire" and its next album "It Still Moves", and a great album at that, albeit somewhat overlong at 74 min. Nevertheless, it's a must for any MMJ fan and it certainly won't disappoint the casual fan or any fan of great music.

My Morning Jacket continues to ascend the ranks in the music biz. It builds its reputation not just with great album after gret album, but with amazing live shows. When I saw the band most recently, at Bonnaroo earlier this month, it put on an epic, monstrous really, 3 hour set that started at midnight. It brought the house down with its tireless energy and great song selection (both originals and covers). MMJ will be heard of for many years to come, no question.

My Morning Jacket has become my favorite band because of this cd. If you were only recently introduced to them through Z as I was you definitely will be interested in this cd. It's really cool to see how they have progresed as a band and you can see the potential that is fulfilled on Z in At Dawn. Some of the best tracks are "The way that he sings" "death is the easy way" "Hopefully" "Xmas Curtain" and "Phone Went West". They are the reason I'm going to Banaroo this summer. Enjoy!

Before whole heartedly embracing the electric guitars, My Morning Jacket released two albums that had a greater emphasis on their roots, and on the subtleties of acoustic arrangements.

This album, At Dawn, is the second of these, and displays a more mature level of songwriting from Jim James.

The sprawling opener (and title track) builds and builds with James' voice drenched in reverb and engulfing the listener. The punchy "Low down" is twang-rock perfection complete with 'Oh ooh woah!!!'s at the end!

The album ranges from intimate, sparse acoustic numbers to jammed out blues rockers, all with that lo-fi aesthetic that gives the band their autheticity. The production is muddy at times, but you really feel like you're watching them play in a huge iron shed in the middle of nowhere.

And that sounds great to me!

this cd is so beautiful in such a subtle way that when you finally realize this, it destroys you. i had to listen to it at least five times before i could even come to this conclusion. my reactions from the intial listen was that the cd was sparse and the songs were meandering leading to nowhere. but after repeated listenings i realized that the songs were just fleshed out and each were individual masterpieces. the songs are not depressing but they invoke a melancholy mood that makes it good sulking music. jim james does not have a voice that will be immediately loved but there's something about his drawl. honestly, it's best put in james' own words from track 3. "why does my mind blow to bits everytime they play that song, it's just the way that he sings, it's not the words that he says, or the band...." i'm sure he was singing about somebody else's song, but to me he's singing about my reaction to his songs.[....] the 30 second clips do not justify the genius behind these songs, which are on average 5 minutes a piece. at my local record store they had a stack of these cds that no one would buy. what a shame.....