My Morning Jacket – Circuital

On listening to My Morning Jacket’s sixth studio release, it becomes immediately apparent just how significant the shift has been from the country-inflected indie rock of their beginnings. Having heralded an applaudable progression with the release of acclaimed 2004 LP, Z, the Kentucky five-piece have since been set on an unwavering course of sonic experimentation. This time they've been stunted by the excess of their own overreaching ambition.

Overrun by an array of wildly disparate styles, Circuital simply lacks the cohesion it needs to flow. The bizarre spectacle of Holdin’ On To Black Metal’s ‘folk-choir-meets-Bond-theme’ amalgam and the woozy last-orders waltz of Slow Slow Tune have some success, though they’re lost in the rubble of bad ideas. The deflating Out Of My System’s druggy rock is a case-in-point, and the off-target funk of closer Victory Dance ends an album where MMJ pay a hefty price for sacrificing substance over style. [Paul Neeson]