My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges

Rating:

* * *

There's an uppity song called

Highly Suspicious

on My Morning Jacket's fifth album that's like a tribute to

Push It

by Salt-n-Pepa. Or maybe

Word Up

by cod-piece wearing crazy, Cameo. It's not what you expect from the Louisville, Kentucky, quintet who are fine players of anthemic and often psychedelic southern rock.

Highly Suspicious

is the most extreme proof that songwriter and singer Jim James and his band are more out there than ever   and branching out stylistically this time round. Where 2005's excellent

Z

was experimental in approach,

Evil Urges

is sprawling and sporadic. Their southern rock roots remain at the core but there are more instruments, an array of oddball sounds and it incorporates everything from soul to space rock.

This diversity has a lot to do with James' freakish voice. On the title track he comes across somewhere between Style Council-era Paul Weller and a breathless Prince, then for the jittery indie rock of

Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt.1

he's back to a dead beat drawl.

There's also a romantic warmth to the record, like on the slow-dancing serenade of

Thank You Too!

and the cute and whimsical

Librarian

, where James is spying through the book case at "the sexiest librarian". "Take off those glasses and let down your hair for me," he murmurs shyly.

But on

Two Halves

it starts getting a little too middle-of-the-road - albeit a very dusty one - with the chorus conjuring up an image of James as a nasally Christopher Cross singing

Sailing

. It could be a cheesy TV show theme.

References to Salt-n-Pepa and Cross make MMJ sound very strange. However, essentially they are a sonic rock 'n' roll band with great tunes, a touch of psychedelic blues, and a down-home country feel. But while

Evil Urges

is another solid album, and an evolution once again,

Z

will take some beating.

Scott Kara