Plugging Into My Morning Jacket's "Big Decisions" Is a Smart Decision

Straight from Mom's hometown of Louisville, Kentucky we have My Morning Jacket cluing us into the nettlesome nature of making big decisions, namely that your peers can't make them for you which is both intimidating and exhilarating at the same time. Jim James leads this round table discussion in his typical peering into your mind's mind to examine the complexities therein. My Morning Jacket makes an outstanding racket in this case. Everyone's tuned up to the hilt but they don't overwhelm you with their cosmic talents. This band falls under the country rock umbrella to name but one genre it answers to. "Big Decisions" spreads itself out all over the table not unlike when Ally Sheedy did so when she unloaded the contents of her purse and unloaded about her private life in The Breakfast Club. The instruments click when it's convenient which is on a regular basis here. No small haunting chorus hovers over these proceedings. An out on the home on the range prairie sizzled guitar note or three lends itself nicely to the homespun humility with which "Big Decisions" unfolds. The lead character appears as a soul dabbling in life's waters but afraid to take the plunge necessary for love, happiness, career, etc...Jim calls out who I believe to be a her. He doesn't want to fake claiming everything is okay. She still quakes on the high diving board showing little interest in making a defining move. Carl Broemel adds the country flavoring with steel guitar. Patrick Hallahan doesn't beat us over the head behind drums. His is a conductor's role of sorts. He's there to make sure the parade gets where it's supposed to be in a timely fashion. If you want to play intellectual comparison games My Morning Jacket has crafted a brain strengthener that R.E.M. wouldn't have sounded out of place performing in its heyday. Said Athens, GA dwellers contributed to the musical landscape with "What's The Frequency Kenneth?" from the "Monster" LP. "Big Decisions carries around a similar eclectic mix putting each member in an agreeable light. I tip my hat to the boys for whipping up that haunted vocal merging at the start. Doesn't give away the heavy topic awaiting us after the boulder rolls down hill. What a treat it would be to hear My Morning Jacket perform this before the Austin City Limits folks. The band held court there in both 2008 and 2011 so not hard to fathom a return trip. I'm fond of them exploring the possibilities rather than get mired down in pursuing a quick buck. The lost soul is urged not to harbor regrets because his/her true feelings never saw the light of day. Jim adamantly tells him/her he can't make the big decisions for him/her. Nobody can do that for anyone. One of adulthood's scariest realizations. I don't bear any ill will that My Morning Jacket didn't reward us with chord change-ups. It had an established theme to pursue and needed to stay firmly enmeshed in one amplified train of thought to do so. "Big Decisions" probes uneasy terrain but pulls it off without the heavy handedness that would encourage us to blow them off as being presumptuous windbags. The smart decision is to cheer loudly when "Waterfall" the album from which this single originates, hits stores in early May. If you want your cranium to get a workout My Morning Jacket serves the purpose with nothing short of a deep tissue massage.