It Took Five Years, But My Morning Jacket's Followup to 'The Waterfall' was Worth the Wait

After a five year wait, Kentucky Indie/Country Rock band My Morning Jacket have finally delivered the sequel to their 2015 album The Waterfall. I haven’t heard much from these guys since back when Guitar Hero 5 came out, and even at that point I only knew a small handful of songs at most. While I’ve gone back and listened to the original The Waterfall for this review, I’m probably one of the only people that actually went into this as essentially a new listener. Having missed out on most of the band’s most critically acclaimed period, I’m probably not someone who’s opinion really matters all that much, but for what it’s worth I enjoyed this new one quite a bit. It hasn’t instantly converted me into a My Morning Jacket superfan and hasn’t inspired me to immediately go back and listen to every single second of music I missed, but it does leave me feeling like I’ve probably missed out on a solid discography. After getting thoroughly acquainted with this one, I can only imagine how good their supposed best material is.

It was pretty apparent early on that this was going to be quite a mellow release, one that’s much more mellow than the first The Waterfall record. It’s a pretty rare occasion that distorted guitars show themselves anywhere on this album, with the six-strings only really having much of a bite on the 6 minute rocker Wasted and in the background of one part of Beautiful Love. That’s not something that felt absent whatsoever here though, as I was more than happy with the vibey and relaxed mood this album brought about very successfully. Songs like the opener Spinning My Wheels and the very mellow Feel You do an awesome job of putting together a sweet, melodious and slightly vintage sound that works super well. The record stands just fine on it’s own two legs without bringing in lots of big riffs and more intense moments, which I was definitely expecting. That’s not to say that this doesn’t have it’s fair share of upbeat tracks though, as my three favorite songs here (Climbing the Ladder, Magic Bullet and Wasted) go to show. The first of these three is one of the most pepy and energetic Alt-Country songs I’ve ever heard, and it fits so well in between the more chilled out moments on the record with just the right amount of pick-me-up. Magic Bullet incorporates a surprisingly strong Funk influence too, delivering one of the most psychedelic and trippy sounding songs on the album in all the right ways. Completing this trifecta with Wasted, an extremely winding journey with quite a sizable chunk being instrumental, shows that these three songs alone are enough to carry the high energy parts of the album all by themselves.

I was really impressed the performances on this thing, most specifically how they all lent themselves so well to the eclectic mixing pot of sounds the band attempts throughout it’s 47 minute runtime. The guitars on here are usually equally as exciting no matter what tempo and effects are plastered on top. The guitars on this record know exactly when they should be in the background and foreground, doing a great job of making the album not feel particularly guitar-driven. Don’t get me wrong I am 110% fine with guitar-driven music, but in this instance I think the guitars are made more effective by remaining laid back and allowing room for so many other interesting instrumental choices. The synthesized elements of the record are really fantastic, and they often mesh extremely well with the rhythm section to create a really dynamic and unique tapestry for the rest of the sound to be written on top of. Magic Bullet is one that showcases how the synths, drums and bass all come together so fantastically to create some truly unique. The vocals and lyricism is really great as well, with the lyrics often giving me a very wholesome, sweet and poetic impression. Jim James, who has the most redundant name I’ve ever seen, does a great job of keeping himself reserved yet immersive from the album’s start to it’s finish. The band has great chemistry together, and pairing that with such generally well written songs makes for some true gems. On top of all that, there isn’t a second of this that would ever make me think it was recorded and written in 2013-2014, as it’s all so smoothly produced and well orchestrated.

While I generally really enjoyed this record, there were a few moments that I could do without. Beautiful Love is the shortest song on the album, and it’s also arguably the most insignificant. It almost feels like a My Morning Jacket cover of a Rex Orange County song with it’s sweet and simple melodies and transitions really reminding me of the flow and aesthetic of his most recent album Pony. I did quite like that record, but here it was a sound that I didn’t find quite as flattering as everything else the band was shooting for. Run It was another one that almost kind of felt like a B-side for whatever reason. It’s a perfectly fine song, but it’s so quaint, simple and indistinct in the wrong ways at points. I loved the delicate keystrokes we got out of the piano playing on the cut, as well as the little guitar solo towards the end, but the song as a whole didn’t quite hit the spot for me. Don’t get me wrong it doesn’t do anything offensively bad in the slightest and I could even see why some would love it, but to me it just feels so much tinier, less interesting and far less ambitious than any other song on the entire album. It feels like half a song in comparison to any of 7 tracks here that I plan on keeping in my listening rotation, despite it being close to 5 minutes in length. The second to last track on the album, Welcome Home, is the only other one that might’ve benefitted from a little bit of trimming down. It’s not a bad song by any means, but just like the first two I’ve mentioned in this paragraph it feels a little bit more negligible than the better parts of the album. It’s a sweet and solid song that serves as a great ode to family, but musically it’s just a tiny bit underwhelming and it feels a good bit longer than it actually is. I’m getting a bit nitpicky at this point though, as this song really isn’t hurting anything if I’m being honest.

This is a really awesome return from My Morning Jacket that makes me just want to hear what the third installment in this supposed trilogy was going to sound like. Given the last one was a bit more straightforward and leaned on the band’s Rock muscle a bit more, I would almost predict that the third record might’ve gone a bit more in the trippy and surreal direction. If Magic Bullet is any indication, I could see that being pretty electrifying. That’s a pretty unfair thing to ask for right now though, as most fans are just happy that we actually got to hear the second installment. For all we know, the third might never come out and it might have even been incorporated into this one. That would be fine, as this makes for a pretty fitting sequel to the last and it stands as an album that’s worth the wait in most aspects. It’s not perfect for sure, but I’d say it doesn’t need to be as the majority of the album kept me immersed and intrigued, even as someone who isn’t heavily invested into this band. I’d say I’d even take this one over the first in this planned trilogy. After a five year wait, The Waterfall 2 marks a pretty satisfying return to the music world from My Morning Jacket. It could have used just a tiny bit of trimming down, but almost all of this album is extremely fun and dynamic in all the right ways. It does a great job of building atmosphere, incorporating a wide variety of influences and making sure it really counts on the rare occasion that they crank up those guitar amps. - 7.8/10 (Best Songs - Climbing the Ladder, Magic Bullet, Wasted)