Spectreview: Kevin Morby – Oh My God

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“I tried to pray, but I didn’t know what to say
So I just mumbled some names
I said, ‘I hope they’re okay,’ then ‘amen’”

It’s ironic that, in the secular age, there’s no better time to submit yourself to a higher power than right now. If social media and 24-hour news cycles haven’t rushed us come to the conclusion that we’re already spiritually dead, we’re confronted with our collective demise every day as the world slowly gets hotter and slowly gets colder. In Oh My God, Kevin Morby, like James Taylor or the other American songwriters he aims to supersede, wants us to know that it’s okay to put your faith in a power that may or may not be real, if it helps you navigate this brave new world. As in his previous works, there’s little righteousness in his method, just observance of the struggles present in all eras, and of the morbid peculiarities of this particular one. Morby pares his musings with a typically gorgeous collection of songs, pulling partially from the classic American folk songbook and weaving light touches of jazz instrumentation throughout. The album’s best moments are zags in place of zigs, like when an epic solo pulled right out of Wilco’s A Ghost is Born cuts through the balladry of “Seven Devils,” or when a choir interrupts the VU-like nervous tension of “OMG Rock n Roll.” As a whole, the album’s a little long in the tooth, losing steam after the halfway point, and perhaps tracks like the heavy-handed “Congratulations” could have been cut for a more streamlined experience. Conceptually though, Morby has rarely been as focused as he is here, ending the album with “O Behold” a crushing admission of spiritual defeat that still carries a glimmer of hope amid the rising tide.

Recommended for an empty Sunday.