Earlier this year, My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James released a solo album titled Uniform Distortion. Today, James has revealed plans for an acoustic companion album titled Uniform Clarity, and has shared two singles from the upcoming LP. Listen to "You Get To Rome" and "Over & Over" below.
Both of these songs are on Uniform Distortion in much different versions as electric rockers. In fact, the Uniform Clarity album has the exact same songs as Uniform Distortion in the same order. Aside from being stripped down to solo acoustic instrumentation, the other difference between the two albums is the addition of two new songs: "It Will Work Out" and "Flash In The Pan" which James has not yet released in any form.
Both songs have an intimate feel to them and a warm quality that feels like he is performing in the room with you. This acoustic version of "You Get To Rome" is a beautiful ballad highlighting Jim's tender vocals. On "Over and Over," Jim keeps things mellow with subdued strumming and passionate vocals that deliver the lyrics to the forefront.
Jim shared a comment about the upcoming album via a press release:
The idea for UNIFORM CLARITY came from UNIFORM DISTORTION... an album of intentional chaos/dirt: literal and figurative distortion of lyrics and sound meant to echo and hopefully shed some light on the twisted times and distortion of the truth in which we now live. UNIFORM CLARITY is meant to illuminate the other side - raw and real, but very clear, much like in the early days of recording where all you could hear was the truth because there were no ways to manipulate recordings in the studio. Working with Shawn Everett, we created a document style recording of these songs- just vocals, guitar and the space itself- no special FX. A crystal clear illustration of the flawed beauty of what a song starts off as or sometimes remains- a thought. a seed. a light from the womb of the universe brought to life down here on earth.
Later today, Jim will take part in a live performance and Q&A session from San Francisco that will be broadcasted through a YouTube live stream starting at 8 pm ET.
Uniform Clarity is scheduled for release on October 5, 2018. Pick it up on Amazon.
Jim will head out on an acoustic tour of North America in November. For concert tickets and more, check out the Jim James Zumic artist page.
