My Morning Jacket - At Dawn

Thee essential MMJ record. A voice that's both honey & charcoal, deep Southern gothic canvases with gracious acoustic and electric guitars, painterly strokes of harpsichord, harmonica, lap steel, drums swimming in the deepest, darkest, widest pools of reverb, dirigible harmonies that will have you weeping, incensed atmosphere so thick, it's absolutely biblical. '...there's an undercurrent of fatalist resignation that rolls over you like the late-afternoon summer sun' - CMJ. 'At Dawn could be the perfect soundtrack to a summer road trip, or just something you wrap around yourself on the way to work each morning. 14 tracks. Darla. 2001. Album Description

My 2nd Favorite MMJ Album (After Z)

It took a while for me to "get" My Morning Jacket. But now that I finally figured out that Jim James is the new archangel of American rock, I've been working my way backwards through their studio work to discover what gems have yet to shine through my ears and tickle the musical capacitors in my brain.

With some bands, looking into the past can be a hazardous course. But the MMJ catalog proves to be an intriguing, if inconsistent, study in songwriting development with very few bumps in the road.

At Dawn is perhaps one of the band's most underrated albums (although the reviewers here seem to share my enthusiasm), but the fact is it may be one of the best examples of their shape shifting between dramatic, acoustic Americana gems and scorching, southern-tinged, country-fried rock. This is perhaps best exemplified by the tracks that make up the core of this disc -- Bermuda Highway, Honest Man, and Xmas Curtain -- starting out with a gentle fireside sing-a-long then rising to a mountainous electric anthem and then setting back into a misty melodic valley. Other personal favorites include the bluesy gait of Death is My Sleazy Pay and the reggae-infused lilt of Phone Went West.

While Z remains my far and away favorites, and Evil Urges is quickly becoming a staple in my summertime driving rotation, At Dawn is quickly becoming the disc I reach for when I need a bit of bona fide musical spirituality. This is a highly recommended listen for anyone looking to wrap their wings further around this impressive band of musicians. August 15, 2008

FYI FOR THE INTERESTED CONSUMER

Just so ya know, track 13 (Untitled) is a full 8 minutes and seven seconds. Amazon has it incorrectly listed as 3:08.

The song "Lowdown" is the high point here. Recorded music at its finest. Play the sample above and tell me I'm lying. December 29, 2007

Awful - a review from outside Kentucky

I listened to "At Dawn" after having listened to "Z," which is their latest release. Like "Z," their songs ramble a bit and they go into long, drawn-out solos - a "jam band" if you will. However this album is much more crude and there is way too much reverb. Call me "urbanized," but the production values are poor and there is a lack of hooks throughout the entire length of album. The album is so long that the CD stops playing near the end on my computer's CD player - "Strangulation!" gets strangulated, and I don't even hear the bonus track. "Honest Man" is the only standout on the album, a blues-driven rocker that is unlike any other song MMJ has done. The rest, well - I'm glad it's in the past. May 1, 2007

Great, just great

I am now listening to this cd for the first time, and i have to say I love it!!! The music is mesmerizing, almost putting me into musical nirvana. I recommend it highly, as highly as I have ever recommended any cd!!! July 10, 2006

Greatest album, maybe not even from this planet.

If you read my title, it sounds like I may be strange or just looking to be goofy, but after I saw My Morning jacket this year at Bonnaroo, I'm not totally convinced that Jim James and the rest of the crew is entirely human. The sound of Jim James and the dynamic sound of the band in full is beyond anything that should ever be possible from a mear mortal human being. The album, AT DAWN, has been one of my favorite five albums of all time for well over a year now, but it's an album that may possibly grow on a person for years, or maybe lifetimes, or maybe even reincarnated lives, etc. It hits the soul in ways I didn't think possible. I really don't think (aside from MMJ themselves) that any album will ever be made again that reaches this deeply into the human spiritual core. This album leaves me trembling and feeling reborn after every listen. I was late getting into My Morning Jacket, and now I can't stop thinking about them and it's almost odd how integrated their music is with my life. Appropriately enough, they have possibly the most fitting song in the history of life to describe how I feel about Jim James and the way the music makes me feel. To take an exact quote from the song "The Way That He Sings":

"Why does my mind blow to bits every time they play that song?
It's just the way that he sings,
not the words that he says, or the band.
Im in love with this soul, it's a meaning that I understand."

Those lines are the most appropriate lines I have ever heard. Because it's the way I feel every time I hear every part of that song, and of the album. Of course, I do love the lyrics and the band, etc, but there is something in the way that he sings that blows my mind to bits. Every song on this album is so beautiful and hypnotic that it could arguably stand out on any other album in music history. Please give this album many chances, and realize that it may take several listens before you even can get to the next level of the greatness of this album. I heard it almost four or five times, casually, before it started to hit me, and then one day, I immediately named it one of my favorite five albums; now it's my number one without any doubts. Only this band could top the effort of At Dawn. I really can't say any more about this album other than that it is just simply the most beautiful thing I have ever encountered in my life. This album is special, and the band is as much. I've only seen them twice, but please see them after you get familiar with at least a couple of their albums, and I promise you will come back home and play their albums more religiously than a priest reads a verse before mass.
July 7, 2006

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