The Lord Giveth and the Lord Maketh Voodoo Lounge

I've been listening to the new My Morning Jacket record, the retardedly titled "Z," but haven't made up my mind yet. (It's a departure, with plenty of annoying keyboard pop and some good high-energy guitar rock.) I likewise haven't figured out whether frontman Jim James is a genuinely weird gifted songwriter or a cloying affected gifted songwriter--his new schtick appears to be carrying that Hello Kitty banner everywhere with him like a security blanket.

But I do give him credit for explaining one of the enduring mysteries of the universe in a new Harp Magazine profile:

James lives for moments like this. It is when, in his opinion, the presence of God passes through him. "I think that force, for me, is religion," James had said a few days earlier. "It's why I play music. We'll play some shows and most of them are pretty good and then some of those shows are the greatest thing that ever happened to us. And that is God. It's the same force that made the Rolling Stones good for so long and then made them start sucking."