Song Exploder - My Morning Jacket - Spring (Among the Living)

Episode Date: April 23, 2015

Jim James is the lead singer of the Grammy-nominated band My Morning Jacket. Since starting in 1998, they've put out six albums, and in this episode, Jim breaks down the song Spring (Among The Living), from their soon-to-be released seventh album, The Waterfall.

You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made. I'm Rishi Kesh Hirway. Every winter, I just feel like I want to die. I'm just so fucking sick of being beaten down by the wintertime. I feel like every spring my life is saved, and I'm reborn. You're listening to Song Exploder. My name is Rishikes Hereway. Jim James is the lead singer of the Grammy-nominated band My Morning Jacket.

Since starting in 1998, they've put out six albums. And in this episode, Jim breaks down the song Spring Among the Living from their soon-to-be-released seventh album, The Waterfall. When spring finally comes, it's like in Louisville, where I live, it's a massive transition. You know, because everybody is so bummed in the wintertime and so down, and it's gray and horrible. And so when it finally becomes spring, it just really is like this rebirth, you know, and everybody's out in their shorts running through the park and falling in love and going out and having fun again. You know, it's a lifesaver. I remember I had an apartment in New York City for a while and I had the back door open

and I had this really cool backyard for New York and the door was open and the snow was thawing and you know the grass was starting to come up and it just popped into my head of like how glad I was that it was spring again so I just remember that moment so vividly and the song came into my head I was ready I picked this song talk about because I think it represents what I love about the era we're in now, which is true analog performance by a band, but also tons of digital editing and smashing together of parts and all the cool things you can do in a computer now. We played through the song, but we never really figured it out at the studio. We like had just done the basic tracks. And then when I went home, I opened up the session and just started putting it together and connecting the dots. Like I had this really left, right feeling of like the drum beat,

this one's happening, and then this one's happening, and then bam, they're both happening together. Yeah, and that was something that we couldn't just track like that or figure that out. Well, it would be physically impossible because you couldn't play two parts at the same time. And for me, it really came together in that way. The jang, jang, jang, I wanted a really horrible sound. And I was like, what sounds more horrible than an acoustic through an amp? I think it's one of the most horrible sounds.

sounds on the face of the earth. So we put it through the amp with reverb on it. I just love it when things sound terrible. I mean, sometimes I love it when things sound great. But there's just something about the way something sounds. Maybe I've listened to there's a riot going on. Bustlostone, I think, is one of the greatest records ever made. And that record sounds horrible, and the vocal's super muffled.

One child grows up to be somebody they just loves to learn about. And everything's dirty and horrible. And I just love that stuff. They were like, this is a fucking great take. Like, we're not going to go fix that vocal just because it blew up. You know, it sounds great. It's awesome. So I'm a big fan of external noises.

Like, if I do a vocal at home now, it's just like I've just got to start recording it. And if it distorts a little, I'm kind of glad. I was doing a lot of howling on this song, and I was like, God, this is fun. And I was like, oh man, that would sound so good if somebody was howling with me or along with me. And yeah, we had our friend Merrill from Teen Yards sing on this and howl.

Because I love Merrill's spirit and her howling. And you know, her spirit is so big. There were other girls singing along with her. Boy, I was ready. Kylene King and Patty King from Portland, who also did the strings on the record. They're like a powerhouse. The next part coming up on the clav, like Bo, came up with like the...

Dek-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. This always reminds me in the news. Tonight, it's seven. Breaking news. I almost broke my hand playing that so fast. It's so, like, tense to get it. I'm Bo and I'm the keyboardist. It's funny hearing that, because I'm re-learning how to play the song, and I forgot that extra note was in there, so I'm going to add it back.

The whole ending to me feels super joyous and triumphant, like, Spring is supposed to feel. I feel like you've made it. made it through this big, weird song. Parts of it are jarring and parts of it feel good and parts of it feel sad. But then you make it to the end and it's kind of all lets go and you're enjoying it. It's like a joyous kind of yelling. And now here's Spring Among the Living by My Morning Jacket in its entirety. Go to SongExploder.net for links to buy the record or stream it.

I have a new album of my own coming out on April 24th. It's been about 15 years since I last put out a full length. and this is the first one that'll be out under my own name, Rishikesh Her Way. I started making Song Exploder when I was feeling lost in my own music career. And then for over a decade, I've gotten to have these incredible conversations about the process of making music, talking to other artists. And it made me completely rethink my relationship to music and my way of writing songs. And this album is the product of all of that. It features contributions from some of my favorite artists, including some folks that you may have heard on this podcast, like Iron and Wine,

Kevin Morby, Vagabon, Fenlily, and the producer Phil Weinrope. I'm going to be on tour playing in cities across the U.S. starting in April, and I'm trying to bring the spirit of the podcast with me. So every show that I'm playing will begin with a conversation about the album with a different amazing guest moderator in each city. Like Adam Scott, Samin Nasrat, Jason Manzuchas, Josh Molina, Minjin Lee, Ken Jennings, John Roderick, Austin Cleon, and more. They're all going to be my conversation partners on stage.

And then I'll play with my band. The album is called In the Last Hour of Light, and the first couple songs are out now. You can listen to the music and get tickets for the shows on my website, rishikash.co. Or just go to songexploder.net slash live. That's songexploder.net slash live. Thanks. Next time on the show, composer John Lund breaks down his Emmy-winning music for the show Downton Abbey. You can find all the past and future episodes of Song Exploder at SongExploder.

Exploder.net or on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you download podcasts. Find the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Song Exploder. Song Exploder is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a curated network of extraordinary, story-driven shows. Learn more at Radiotopia.fm. My name is Rishi Kesh Hereway. Thanks for listening.