Genre: Alternative Country
Label Number: ATO0058
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AllMusic Review by Andrew Leahey
"Evil Urges," "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream, Pt. 1," and "Highly Suspicious" comprise the opening lineup, which jumpstarts the album with 13 minutes of sexy, tripped-out electro-funk. James slips into a falsetto during the title track, his voice clear and reverb-free as he coos in a bedroom whisper. "Touch Me" bubbles with interstellar keyboard effects and harmonies -- for the stoner contingent of MMJ's audience, this is the logical place to fire up the bong -- while "Highly Suspicious" delivers the album's biggest shocker, mixing James' best Prince impression with bizarre lyrics ("Tapping your lines, peanut butter pudding surprise!") and bursts of laugher. It's the kind of polarizing song that fans will either love or loathe, and given its prominent spot in the track list -- batting third, a spot usually reserved for heavy-hitters -- it's obviously meant to elicit a strong reaction. But that seems to be the crux of Evil Urges; after years of being shoehorned into various genres, My Morning Jacket have put their collective foot down, insisting that they're not a neo-psychedelic outfit, an alt-country group, a jam band, or the contemporary torchbearers of Southern rock & roll. They're none of those things -- or perhaps they're all of those things, as Evil Urges offers the widest swath of musical fare in the My Morning Jacket catalog. There's rock & roll ("Aluminum Park," "I'm Amazed"), country ("Sec Walkin'"), rootsy pop nuggets ("Two Halves"), ballads about sexy bookworms ("Librarian"), and the aforementioned trips into Funkytown. "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream, Pt. 2" concludes the album with eight minutes of kaleidoscopic sound, and Evil Urges ultimately ends the same way it began -- with a willingness to explore, to challenge, to poke and prod at My Morning Jacket's past work while creating something new.
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