Jim James

For the past quarter-century, Jim James has been one of music’s most distinctive singers and stylists, his careworn falsetto transmitting a mix of elliptical blues and little joys. Released in 2001 on the tiny label Darla, My Morning Jacket’s At Dawn was a perfect slab of psychedelic country-soul, where galloping guitars and cantering drums seemed atomized by the lysergic smear of a Southern sunset after a thunderstorm. Recorded in a grain silo, James’ voice floated above it all, wise and knowing but also worried. As My Morning Jacket has grown into a generationally beloved rock band, with bright guitar harmonies and enormous drums, the quiet side of James’ craft heard on At Dawn has always remained, from collaborations like Monsters of Folk and cherished outtakes sets to solo albums where his sense of wonder and soul drifted back into the hazy spotlight.

That all returns on Wowed Out, James’ first solo album in nearly a decade and the best he’s ever made. James started working on Wowed Out in earnest while sorting through hard drives and stumbling upon the rejected music for films he made with the composer Brian Reitzell. He loved the little bits of audio accompaniment they’d built, so he decided to bring them back to life by sampling them, building loops and sequences of his discarded past to write new material that reflected his thoughts on the present. These songs are about stepping away from screens and into each other’s gaze, about trying to be less “wowed out” by technology and more wowed by what’s around us. There is some judgement and worry here, but, with his beautiful voice arcing ever upward, these are songs about being open to being in love with the world that’s here, to basking in the joys on offer.