The Waterfall (album)
The Waterfall is the seventh studio album by American rock band My Morning Jacket. Produced by Tucker Martine and group frontman Jim James, the album was released on May 4, 2015 by ATO Records and Capitol Records. After touring 2011’s Circuital (2011), for two years the band took a break before regrouping in late 2013 to begin work on The Waterfall, a process which took eighteen months.
The Waterfall
May 4, 2015
2013–2014
- Panoramic House (Stinson Beach, California)
- Flora Recording & Playback (Portland, Oregon)
- La La Land, Removador Fun Ranch (Louisville, Kentucky)
- In Heaven Recording Studios
47:50
Much of The Waterfall was recorded at a hilltop studio located Stinson Beach, California, where the band rented seaside homes while recording. Many elements of the album—from its tone to the album art—are heavily indebted to the area and its nature. James mostly brought unfinished lyrics to the group to create a spontaneous development process. In addition, he suffered a back injury during the sessions that hindered its production. His lyrics, likewise, document injury, romance and heartbreak, and spirituality, but center most on renewal. The album's music encompasses several genres, including folk, R&B, and psychedelia.
The album received favorable reviews from music critics, who considered it an improvement on their previous two albums. It debuted at number 11 on the Billboard 200 in the U.S., and represented career bests in several countries' national album charts. To promote the record, murals of a waterfall were painted on buildings in several U.S. cities, including Los Angeles and Chicago. The group founded a philanthropic organization named after the album to support environmental causes. My Morning Jacket supported the record with a large summer tour, spanning five months and featuring appearances at theaters and festivals.
Outtakes for this release were repurposed into 2020's The Waterfall II.
Background[edit]
My Morning Jacket—consisting of singer-songwriter Jim James, guitarist Carl Broemel, bassist Tom Blankenship, drummer Patrick Hallahan, and keyboardist Bo Koster—formed in 1997 and rose to fame in the mid-2000s with their fourth album Z, which represented a critical and commercial breakthrough for the band. The band became known for mixing various genres with their country and rock sound, and were praised for their live performances, including a revered performance at music festival Bonnaroo in 2008.[1] The group subsequently released a fifth record, Evil Urges, that received a polarized response.[2] Their sixth release, Circuital (2011), became their highest-charting album on national charts and received acclaim.
The band toured for two years in support of Circuital. In 2013, they embarked on a tour alongside Wilco and Bob Dylan that left them disappointed, as they had falsely been told Dylan desired to work with them.[3] While the band took a break, James stayed busy, touring behind his solo album, Regions of Light and Sound of God, and collaborating with Elvis Costello and Marcus Mumford for the New Basement Tapes project. These individual side projects, rather than detach the musicians, worked to strengthen their skill as musicians, according to Blankenship. This led to a greater appreciation of the group upon their return to it.[4]
Composition[edit]
The Waterfall "exploring love, loss, philosophical statements, and naturalistic imagery,"[6] while its musical contents are diverse, consisting of "existentialist R&B, nature-boy folk, wigged-out psychedelia, and jam-friendly arena rock."[2] The title "is a metaphor for how life is constantly beating you down, and you really have to take time to stop it and get through."[3] Likewise, the album's central theme is rebirth and renewal.[10]
James joked that his own personal confusion was the source of much of the album's lyrics.[5] "I feel like I still don't know how to explain anything, but I have accepted that, I guess, and I'm just trying to live," he said.[7] "Believe (Nobody Knows)" touches on spirituality and concludes that belief in a higher power is wholly good so long as it does not inspire evil.[10] It was an extension of James' belief that religion causes enormous harm to society and is gripped with "chaos and greed," but that it should not deter a person from believing, as "nobody knows." The song was the last recorded for the album, and was set as the opening track to set a positive tone.[10] "In Its Infancy (The Waterfall)" evolved from James' fascination with creating a song built from unrelated elements. The song was created in various pieces over time.[10]
Much of The Waterfall is concerned with "lovelorn melancholy," the result of a breakup James experienced.[2] Despite this, only two songs explicitly reflect the heartbreak, "Get the Point" and "Only Memories Remain".[3] "Spring (Among the Living)" contains various sections of collage created by James on his personal laptop. These additions initially received a mixed response from the rest of the group, as it did not come "organically" from the band as a whole.[3] "Thin Line" is the oldest song on the album, dating to "five or six" years prior to its inclusion. James had ceased working on the song when he could not complete it, but it was revived when Blankenship found an additional riff on his computer for the song.[10] "Big Decisions" is about people refraining to change things in their lives that make them unhappy.[3]
Release[edit]
The group announced The Waterfall in March 2015, sharing its cover art, track listing, and its lead single, "Big Decisions".[9] ATO, the band's longtime label, entered into a partnership with Capitol Records, who co-distributed the album.[7] To promote the album, the band enlisted artists to paint murals of a waterfall on the side of buildings in five U.S. cities: Venice, Chicago, Williamsburg, Nashville, and Portland, Louisville.[14] The group partnered with Portland Investment Initiative and Beautify Earth for the stunt, as a part of their own environmental campaign, The Waterfall Project.[15]
Commercial performance[edit]
The Waterfall debuted at number 11 on the Billboard 200 in the U.S., with 33,000 copies sold in its first week. They also reached a career best of number two on the Top Rock Albums chart.[16] In Canada, the album was twentieth best-selling album of its release week.[17] On the UK Albums Chart, the group reached a career best of position 42.[18] Its chart performance elsewhere was low, with the highest being in Sweden, where the release charted at number 38.[19]
Touring[edit]
The band began touring in support of The Waterfall in May 2015, starting out at the historic Georgia Theatre in Athens, Georgia. The tour spans much of the summer and early fall 2015, and includes appearances at large festivals (Governors Ball and Bonnaroo) as well as headlining shows. It concluded in September 2015 in Berlin.[9]