My Morning Jacket: Circuital

Label: ATO

The sixth studio album by My Morning Jacket finds the band turning out roots-pop spirituals with the easy confidence of a veteran country preacher. That vibe comes through clearly on Circuital's opener, "Victory Dance," which sounds somehow more epic than its five-minutes-plus length would suggest, due mainly to the gathering stormclouds conjured by vocalist Jim James (sounding lucid and solemn) and the band's slowly building head of steam. The song ends in a drawn-out emotional climax that the group wisely doesn't try to top; the following title track, even longer, is an exercise in the band's trademark beauty, with James singing purely into a cavernous space suggested by the group's sprawling strums and rambling rhythms. Leading off an album with two long, opus-like tracks signals that this isn't meant to be a pop record, but then, what to make of the humorously named "Holdin On to Black Metal," with its great horn arrangement and rousing chorus of backing vocalists? It vaguely resembles an old World Party tune, and it's just another highlight on an album and in a career full of them.