When I first saw My Morning Jacket perform live, Keane and Junior Senior opened for them in one of those incongruous collections of bands that make up NME showcase events. Junior Senior were a novelty act; Keane were about to go stellar but nobody really knew or cared about their vanilla piano pap back then. But anyway, MMJ: they were a bare-footed maelstrom of noise and hair and Flying Vs, and it was exhilarating. There was something quite primeval about their show and especially in Jim James' lupine howl; their music - thrilling, pit-of-the-stomach rock music - was in complete contrast to the two support acts, a sound so thick and intense that you could almost step inside it and let it engulf you.

Back then, their albums were sprawling, reverb-drenched epics of what the critics liked to call 'alt-country' or 'country-rock'; comparisons with Neil Young were inevitable especially as Jim James had a seemingly similar vocal style. And then in 2005 MMJ released their fourth album Z, which was tighter and more polished and saw the band experiment with reggae and soul. It was a fascinating departure and ended up being Metacritic's joint top-rated album of that year. 

You'd be forgiven for thinking that Z was My Morning Jacket's Great Experiment, that they'd veer back into familiar territory with their next release. But on Evil Urges, album number five, they really hit their stride: it does still sound like MMJ, and yet you could never have imagined, listening to their first three releases from 1999-2003, that they'd ever produce a record like this. James does occasionally sound like Neil Young still, but he also channels Prince, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen and Meatloaf (yes, really). It's startling, and arresting, but it works.

It begins almost alarmingly: the funky falsetto of the title track and opener is just about enough to make you rush back to the record shop and make sure you did actually get the My Morning Jacket album (does anyone still go to record shops these days?). But Evil Urges' most eye-popping moment is unquestionably Highly Suspicious, three tracks in, a fearless clash of robotic electro and grinding guitars. It's the album's Marmite moment and will polarize everyone that listens to it. Me? I think it's great fun. Can't get it out of my head: it'll be a hoot live, too.

Highly Suspicious is part of a trio of tracks that make up Evil Urges' opening salvo, with Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt 1 sandwiched in the middle. They are strikingly inventive - ten years ago you'd never have imagined MMJ doing freak-funk and electro - but they do make sense together: it's a bold step to open the album in such an unexpected manner but this is testament to the band's growing confidence; they probably know that they'll alienate some people, but isn't that more interesting than just churning out rehashed versions of At Dawn over and over?

Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt 1 is perhaps the album's most interesting track; the skittering synths bring to mind bands like Radiohead and The Flaming Lips, themselves artists unafraid to wander down unexplored avenues or lob curveballs out at their fans. Of all the songs on the record this is the one that almost doesn't sound like MMJ; with a different singer, the music here would be almost unrecognisable. This doesn't make it bad: on the contrary, it renders the album, and the band, all the more intriguing. And then they go and throw a straight-up rock song like I'm Amazed, with its duelling guitars and swaggering keyboard grooves, into the mix. It's clever stuff.

There are quieter moments too. Sec Walkin' brings James Taylor immediately to mind; it's pure 70s AOR with Jim James' Southern drawl, slide guitar and strings. Librarian tells a sweet story - you know the one about the sexy librarian who isn't really a Plain Jane at all? - and when you listen to its hushed, understated vocal alongside the lovably daft theatrics of Highly Suspicious you cannot help but admire Jim James' versatility as both singer and songwriter. Oh, and he gets bonus points for incorporating the word 'interweb' into the lyrics, too.

You may well have got halfway into the album and imagined that Evil Urges couldn't possibly get any more diverse, and then Aluminum Park comes along and slaps you round the chops, a Springsteen-morphing-into-Meatloaf monster of a track. It's shameless and probably a bit cheesy but, like Highly Suspicious, it will be irresistible live. Remnants follows, a three-minute garagey punk assault with screaming guitars and vocals. But Evil Urges' most epic song of all is the eight-minute Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Part 2, which is a bit like Z's Dondante with a disco backbeat. Here MMJ continue to subvert expectations, producing music that is a million miles away from where they first started and still manages to sound like a band exploring and experimenting with sound rather than being different just for the sake of it.

I probably wasn't alone three years ago in wondering if Z may have turned out to be My Morning Jacket at their creative peak, the album against which all future output would probably pale in comparison. But with Evil Urges they have gone a step further, extending their musical reach and paying tribute to a wide range of influences. Evil Urges won't be to everyone's taste, but that the band has carried it off without sounding ridiculous makes them one of the most exciting and unpredictable acts of the past decade. And I'm sure they still wig out on stage every now and then, too.

Release date: 09/06/2008
Artist website: www.mymorningjacket.com
Label: Rough Trade

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