reax music magazine :: music + culture » Reviews » My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges

If you want to display emotive sexual tension in a song, then the best voice to imitate is Prince. Well, it's not that simple, but the effect is (somewhat) successful for pop-jam band My Morning Jacket on Evil Urges, an uneven album, yet one that showcases Jim James and Co's ability to expand their multi-genre skills once again beyond everyone's Allman Brothers expectations. After the dub reggae-influenced Z, and the live Springsteen bombast extravaganza that was Okonos, the natural progression may not seem disco-funk, but James' falsetto does the diminutive Prince as proud as he does Barry Gibb on "Thank You Too," which could be a Bee Gees boy/girl skate ballad circa 1976. But Evil isn't all dance-club Donna Summer licks. The southern hippie rock shines on in the organs and vocal harmonizing of "I'm Amazed" and "Sec Walkin" is a dreamy pastoral affair, albeit with Moog organ blips. Kraftwerk-style touches adorn the album's conclusion with the dance track "Touch Me I'm Going To Scream (Part 2)," but it's "Highly Suspicious" that is highly contagious, where James professes his own evil urges for "peanut butter pudding," proof that lust not be solely the focus of just carnal objects. - Michael Rabinowitz