As defined by Jim James, being Wowed Out is a contemporary malaise, a state of overstimulation, constantly searching for the latest sensation. It underpins the first solo album in eight years from the My Morning Jacket frontman which seeks a refuge from the spiritual alienation of an existence mediated through screens. In standing firm against disillusionment, he finds solace in nature and argues for kindness as an act of resistance.
Wowed Out also represents a substantial change from his two 2018 albums, Uniform Distortion and Uniform Clarity in which the same set of songs were given diametrically opposed treatments. The new record’s genesis came through rediscovering an archive of music he created for a couple of movies in the early 2010s which were rejected by the film studio for being too unconventional. Many of these pieces were fragments that were only a minute long. However, inspired by the spiritual recordings of Alice Coltrane, he set about looping, sampling and layering to create music that relies on texture and atmosphere rather than building to the payoff of a big chorus or guitar solo. As such, Wowed Out works best as a complete entity, although its individual songs are impressive. ‘Baby Dear’ is an arresting opening, almost celestial in its multitracking of synths, pump organ and his vocal to create a tune of much tenderness in its reference to the old song ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’ and instruction to dance with joy and let freedom ring.
Prompted by the experience of planting bulbs, ‘Hands On’ is quite literally a celebration of getting your hands dirty as well as complex human feelings. The song exemplifies how well the loops work to produce a form of musical hypnosis while the percussion and cymbals of his co-contributor Brian Reitzell create a giddy momentum. Bizarrely, ‘Come Again’ which sees the first reference to being wowed out, emerged from music James had originally composed for a scene set in a teddy bear factory but with the album’s most prominent drum sound, together with dramatic piano and multitracked choir of voices, it is now a hymn to resilience.
The only song that did not emerge from his soundtrack work, ‘Lost Child’ centres around a sample of Maxine Brown’s 1964 take on Gerry Goffin and Carole King’s composition, ‘Oh No Not My Baby.’ James’s lyrics focus on feeling lost amidst the hatred and violence of a fractured world and the sample compounds the feeling of bewildered innocence. Weighing in at nearly eight minutes, twice as long as any other track on Wowed Out, ‘Home (Green)’ forms the record’s centrepiece. With its otherworldly chord organ and bowed piano melodies, it masters the art of teetering on the edge of descending into chaos while always maintaining an underlying structure and finds James alluding to climate catastrophe as he asks, “will we cultivate / or destroy / our only home?” In a strange sleight of hand, the song slips by in an instance.
Strangely considering its title, ‘We Love Our Life’ is a moody, bassline lead song, its tambourine alongside the drum programming giving it a resounding quality. Curiously, the title track is the shortest of Wowed Out’s ten songs at a shade over two minutes. With its Wurlitzer, mellotron and its desire to “feel your pulse / solid and real” combined with drum programming, its pulse is krautrock-like while its mood is distinctly transcendent and blissed out. The pace diminishes considerably with ‘Whole Heart (Into It)’ which opens with a dancing reference and has the feel of a slow waltz. It is a song in which the narrator takes the blame for a failed relationship while extolling the virtues of moving on. There is a beatific quality to the multi-voices at the song’s end singing “beautiful. love.”
Although ‘Rewind It’ has a nostalgic feel, its message is about thinking about your actions as their effects can never be rewound. The vocals and piano motif give the song a particularly soulful element. Wowed Out reaches its conclusion with ‘Your Door’ on which James sounds at his most vulnerable, a song which for most of its duration is painstakingly restrained before ending on a groovier mix of mellotron and guitar.
Of course, in an oversaturated world there is also a constant demand for attention from the culture industry and so each record needs to stand out from the mass of releases. One way in which Wowed Out differentiates itself is with its heightened sense of kindness and consideration, qualities in songs that should not be casually dismissed. The record’s deeply developed sense of texture means it hangs together cohesively despite its shifts in mood and tempo. It makes for an impressively human album.
Jim James: Wowed Out – Released 28 August 2026 (ATO Records)
James – Wowed Out (Official Video)
I was editor of the long-running fanzine, Plane Truth, and have subsequently written for a number of publications. While the zine was known for championing the most angular independent sounds, performing in recent years with a community samba percussion band helped to broaden my tastes so that in 2021 I am far more likely to be celebrating an eclectic mix of sounds and enthusing about Made Kuti, Anthony Joseph, Little Simz and the Soul Jazz Cuban compilations as well as Pom Poko and Richard Dawson.
