Jim James feels lucky to be alive, and you can hear his exultation on the new self-titled album from My Morning Jacket. “Lucky to be Alive” is the seventh track on the band’s ninth album, but you can catch the vibe immediately. The album was reportedly inspired by the band playing together at Red Rocks in 2019, after four years apart. Why would a band so far in go with a self-titled now? Possibly because it captures MMJ better than any it has recorded in a studio so far.

My Morning Jacket is known for powerful live shows, but until now that energy had mostly eluded the band on record. By concentrating on the sound the members make together, without outside musicians or producers, MMJ was able to distill it down to its essence. Unlike some previous efforts (looking at you, Evil Urges), My Morning Jacket is a great album.

“Lucky to be Alive” isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Jim James, who fell off a stage and was seriously injured in 2008, sings that he’s “strung out on the road” and “sick from the cold,” but still concludes that he’s going to “forget about the stress” and “watch the sunset.” James is all about love and appreciating life more than ever here.

“You gotta get up when you fall, that’s all,” he sings on “Love Love Love.” The track has a hypnotic beat, a catchy hook and a good old-fashioned love-is-all-you-need message. He still has his usual social criticisms, but keeps coming back to love. Opener “Regularly Scheduled Programming” decries “Screen time addiction/ Replacing real life and love.” “Least Expected” notes that “We got our own problems to solve” before going into a Marley-esque one love message.

My Morning Jacket goes for the throat on rocker “Complex” but it’s not clear if James is calling out someone else or himself when he sings, “Never could believe in your complex mind/ Never quite belonged in your complex heart/ Felt too slightly squeezed by your complex arms/ Could not breathe.”

At first it sounds like a kiss-off, but then he sings about longing to be loved. James has always been a seeker, and he continues on that path on songs like the contemplative “Never in the Real World,” on which he sings that he can’t make sense of things unless it’s late, “Only in a trance/ Head all full of spirit/ Stumblin’ when I dance.”

For these sessions, MMJ kept personnel to the current five band members, including bassist Tom Blankenship, drummer Patrick Hallahan, guitarist Carl Broemel and keyboardist Bo Koster. James produced and engineered the songs himself. My Morning Jacket strenuously avoids repeating itself from album to album, and the new LP is no exception.

In the past, MMJ explored southern rock, psychedelic freakouts and even some horn-studded funk. This time around, the band goes for a warm retro feel, with sonic hints of Rush and the Allman Brothers, and vocal deliveries reminiscent of (at various times) Bob Dylan and Tom Petty. The sequencing alternates between upbeat numbers that sound custom-made for the band’s live sets, as well as mellower tracks. MMJ is never far from its jam band roots, though, as shown by nine-minute epic “Devil’s in the Details.”

Although Jim James no longer records his lines in a grain silo, as he famously did on MMJ’s first few albums, his vocals are still drenched in reverb. Broemel’s guitar solos are crackling with energy and have a definite Pete-Townshend-at-Woodstock feel to them. Koster brings some Pink Floyd ambience to the party; possibly from touring with Roger Waters. Blankenship and Hallahan continue to be the tight rhythm section the band needs to anchor it when it starts to get spacey and float off.

The album ends on a light, sweet note with “I Never Could Get Enough.”

“My heart pumps away for your loving touch/ You know I never/ I never could get enough,” James softly croons. This album gives the full spectrum of what My Morning Jacket can do: It can rock out, but is also capable of sublimely tender moments and brutally honest introspection. It’s a great follow-up to The Waterfall II.

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