flags of the sacred harp

Jackie-O Motherfucker have been flying their freak flag for a decade now from the evergreens of the pacific northwest to New Orleans to Baltimore and to NY. While their line-up both on album and live has been moving and constantly growing and shrinking for years, the constant that has remained has always been Tom Greenwood. The newest line-up has shaved the group down to a lean, mean four piece. But the sound is as full as ever, full of every bell, whistle, drone, and noise imaginable- so really not much has changed.

Their newest release, Flags of the Sacred Harp, there first new album in three years, is perhaps their most realised and accessible release yet. It is also the first new album for their newest label, ATP, which are also doing us the kind service of reissuing much of their hard to find back catalog from the likes of Road Cone and beyond. The new songs are still long and meandering, but now also have more of a melody than ever before. While deconstructing genres from song to song they still somehow maintain a coherence that makes perfect sense. JOMF have further proved their abilities to capture a mood to build on and slowly away from seamlessly.

The album starts with a psychedelic sound in the round, but about half way through falls apart into fragments that can never get put back together. Rockaway is a downright country song with guy/gal vox. Hey Mr. Sky is a Nyquilfolk Sweet Nothin'. Spirits builds to Dreamweapon 2: Another Evening of Contemporary Sitar Music. Good Morning Kaptain might be what J Spacemen has been trying to capture for years: alien-abducted Appalachian spirituality. The Louder Roared The Sea deconstructs and reconstructs. Slow-mo sunlight refractions off of a shimmering golden body of water. Classic JOMF.

Jackie-O Motherfucker - Hey Mr. Sky
Jackie-O Motherfucker - Good Morning Kaptain