Sixth studio album to be expanded
My Morning Jacket has announced a deluxe edition of their Grammy-nominated sixth studio album, Circuital, arriving on 3 LP and 2 CD on Friday, December 9th via ATO Records. The expanded new edition – which features the original album along with 10 previously unreleased demo recordings – will be available in three unique vinyl variants, including “Setting Sun” (orange vinyl mixed with bright transparent yellow), “Lucifer’s Beach” (opaque blue and ultra-clear marble colored vinyl), and “Inner Light” (neon magenta vinyl mixed with ultra-clear swirl). All three will feature a glow-in-the-dark triple gatefold jacket with expanded artwork, zoetrope LP labels, a fold-out poster with unreleased studio photos, and a special MMJ Owl graphic side etching. The 2 CD edition will feature a six-panel digipack and exclusive 20-page booklet.
Co-produced by Jim James and Tucker Martine (R.E.M., Sufjan Stevens, The Decemberists) in the band’s home state of Kentucky, Circuital proved a major leap forward for My Morning Jacket, matching homespun intimacy with their signature commitment to constant exploration. In keeping with their career-long devotion to their purest creative impulses, the band embraced an unchecked spontaneity throughout the recording process, a decision that ultimately led them into thrilling new directions. The result marked a stunning reinvention of the MMJ sound, simultaneously forging new ground while maintaining the distinct spirit of the band’s previous work. Originally released May 31, 2011, Circuital debuted at No. 5 on the overall Billboard 200 upon its initial arrival – the band’s highest charting debut thus far. Highlighted by such fan favorites as “Holdin On To Black Metal,” “Victory Dance,” and the seven-minute epic title track, the album earned My Morning Jacket their second of three consecutive Grammy Award nominations for Best Alternative Music Album.
“Every record is like a time machine and we all keep changing and changing,” says Jim James. “I’ve come to see myself as a kind of older sibling to the younger version of me, so it’s almost like I become two beings when I sing a song from the olden times: one is the person who wrote the song so long ago, the other is the current me who’s there as support for my younger self, alive forever in the multiverse. And then those two voices combine to form something new and different every time.”
The project follows last month’s digital premiere of Live From RCA Studio A (Acoustic), available now via ATO Records at all DSPs and streaming services. Originally released earlier this year as a Record Store Day vinyl exclusive, the LP collects seven tracks from 2021’s acclaimed self-titled album, recorded solo by frontman Jim James at the famed RCA Studios in Nashville. Official live performance videos of the session are streaming now at YouTube.
Last month also saw the arrival of the second installment in My Morning Jacket’s MMJ Live vinyl series, MMJ Live Vol. 2: Chicago 2021, available now at all DSPs and streaming services and on 3 LP translucent orange vinyl with triple gatefold jacket and digital download card. Recorded live at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, IL on November 11, 2021, the album features a six-sided, 20-song setlist of career highlights, spanning new tracks from My Morning Jacket to classic cuts and fan favorites like “Dondante,” “Mahgeetah,” and “Phone Went West.”
CD 1:
- Victory Dance
- Circuital
- The Day Is Coming
- Wonderful (The Way I Feel)
- Outta My System
- Holdin On To Black Metal
- First Light
- You Wanna Freak Out
- Slow Slow Tune
- Movin Away
CD 2:
- Wonderful (Jim Electronic Demo)
- Circuital (First Band Demo)
- Outta My System (Puppet Demo)
- The Day Is Coming (Jim Demo)
- Victory Dance (Jim Demo)
- Movin’ Away (Jim Demo)
- Slow Slow Tune (Band Demo)
- First Light (Band Demo)
- You Wanna Freak Out (Band Demo)
- Holdin On To Black Metal (Jim Demo)
