Z (album)

Z
Studio album by My Morning Jacket
Released	October 4, 2005
Recorded	Allaire Studios, Shokan, United States
Genre	Indie rock, psychedelic rock, southern rock, jam band
Length	47:00
Label	ATO
Producer	John Leckie, Jim James
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link The A.V. Club (favorable) link Entertainment Weekly (A-) link Metacritic (90) link The Music Box link Pitchfork Media (7.6/10) link PopMatters (7/10) link Prefix Magazine (9/10) link Rolling Stone link Yahoo! Music link
My Morning Jacket chronology
Acoustic Citsuoca (2004) Z (2005) Okonokos (2006)

Z is the fourth album by rock band My Morning Jacket. This collection features a much spacier sound than previous MMJ releases, making heavy use of synthesizers throughout and incorporating small bits of reggae and dub. The heavy reverb present on the band's past recordings is largely missing here, now only vaguely noticeable, after being cleaned up by producer John Leckie, famous for previous work with bands such as the Stone Roses and Radiohead. This is the first My Morning Jacket album to feature a producer, as vocalist Jim James had assumed the production duties on the band's previous efforts. The album marks another first, as the band recorded away from the Quaid family farm, which had served as the inspiration for their first three albums. Instead, My Morning Jacket decided to record in New York's Allaire Studios, nestled deep in the Catskill Mountains. The change of scenery, influence of an experienced producer, and the addition of two new members contributed heavily to the transformation of the band's sound. The first single from the album is "Off the Record". Although the fourth track, "What a Wonderful Man" has an upbeat, happy sound, singer Jim James stated in "Velocity Weekly" that the song was written as a tribute to friend (and former bandmate) Aaron Todovich, who had committed suicide. The closing track, "Dondante", also deals with the death of someone close to James. The album was the second most highly rated of 2005 according to Metacritic, behind Sufjan Stevens' Illinois. The CD was one of the more high-profile releases in 2005 featuring Digital Rights Management technology to prohibit owners from playing the music on a computer or creating digital copies. A double-live album, Okonokos, was recorded during the Z Tour and was released on September 26, 2006; it features live versions of eight of Z's 10 songs.

Track listing

All songs were written by Jim James, except where noted.

1. "Wordless Chorus" – 4:12
2. "It Beats 4 U" – 3:46
3. "Gideon" – 3:39
4. "What a Wonderful Man" – 2:25
5. "Off the Record" (James, "Two Tone" Tommy, Patrick Hallahan) – 5:33
6. "Into the Woods" – 5:21
7. "Anytime" – 3:56
8. "Lay Low" – 6:05
9. "Knot Comes Loose" – 4:02
10. "Dondante" – 8:01

B-sides available outside of the U.S. and/or through preorders/digital downloads: "Chills" and "How Could I Know" (AKA "Oxen")

Digital Rights Management

• United States pressings of this CD contain MediaMax CD-3 by SunnComm.[1]
• Rolling Stone article The band's manager, Mike Martinovich, on Digital Rights Management (DRM)