*** out of *****
My Morning Jacket, with roots in Kentucky, is known for its Southern alternative-jam-band sound since it formed in 1998. In those 12 years, the band has grown from the laid-back Jimmy Buffett style guitar riffs on its 2001 album, At Dawn, to the ambiguous arena-rock jams on its last album, Evil Urges. And while the band is famous for its long and intense live performances, Jacket lead guitarist Carl Broemel’s second solo album, All Birds Say, finds the Southern fret-shredder toning things down a notch in what is mostly a solid attempt at going back to the acoustic country roots that has polished the group’s sound into what it is today.
The title track kicks off the album with a short acoustic instrumental that begins like a Bright Eyes B-side and ends up transforming into a guitar piece that seems as if it were written for an Italian dining scene in a movie. All of that is combined with that trademark Jacket guitar sound.
There’s a lot of steel guitar on this album, which has also been a recurring theme in Jacket’s music. That steel guitar echo reminds the listener of going on a peaceful nature walk and provides the backdrop for Broemel’s simple yet honest lyrics, which mostly feature him looking back on his past while fearing what the future might bring.
On “Carried Away,” one of the standout tracks on the album, he sings the chorus, “Don’t get carried away in the past, it’s not there, don’t get carried away in the past, it’s not fair.” This seems to describe the overall laid-back and forgiving tone of the album, which makes Broemel come off as more of a “live and let die” kind of person.
Broemel’s lyrics make him sound content with where he’s at in his personal life, maybe even a little too content. On the final track, “Retired,” he paints a picture of a life of simplicity and purpose.
When he sings such lines as “the smells of dinner and paint in the air, at 4 in the morning you’re still lying there, asleep on the couch, you wake up and rub your eyes,” we can’t be completely certain whether this is his present or a predicted future. But he seems to have a pretty good idea for a dream of a life spent in a cabin in the woods surrounded only by things that truly mean something to him.
All Birds Say is an album you need to have a specific state of mind to truly appreciate. A state of mind with no worries about the obsolete things in life and appreciation for the things you have. The majority of the songs are slow and somber, which works in this case because it sounds exactly like what Broemel set out to make. And while he proves he can hold his ground, I can’t help but imagine the improvement each song would feature with Jacket lead singer Jim James’s reverb vocals singing each story.