Jim James of My Morning Jacket is releasing a new solo album, “Wowed Out“, this Friday via ATO. Now he has shared the album’s third single, “Lost Child,” via a music video. Joshua Shoemaker directed the video.
“‘Lost Child’ coalesced around a sweetly shuffling beat and piano sampled from R&B singer Maxine Brown’s ‘Oh No Not My Baby’ (a 1964 single co-written by Carole King),” says James in a press release. “I heard that song, and it blew my mind, and as I was writing ‘Lost Child’ it somehow reminded me of all those pieces I’d been wanting to finish for so long.
“A major theme in my life is feeling a little lost in a world I don’t understand. Most days I look at all the violence and hatred, and I can’t believe it’s happening—it’s like I wandered into the wrong dimension. ‘Lost Child’ is another song where I’m asking for help to try to make sense of it all.”
Previously James released “Wowed Out’s” first single, “Come Again,” via a music video. Then he shared the album’s second single, title track “Wowed Out,” .
James produced “Wowed Out”, building it around old recordings he’d done with his longtime friend, award-winning composer Brian Reitzell (Lost in Translation, Virgin Suicides).
“For years I kept returning to all this music we’d made and couldn’t figure out what to do with it,” James says. “But for some reason, last year everything started flowing in a really beautiful way.”
He adds: “There’ve been times in my life where I’ve felt lost or depressed, but music has always been the thing that pulls me back. When I think about making this album, it almost feels like I was in some kind of dream and now I’m trying to remember what the dream was about. The whole thing brought me a lot of joy and comfort while I was making it, and I hope it brings everyone else a little joy and comfort too.”
With “Wowed Out”, James aimed to create something to separate us from all the doomscrolling and distractions of our devices. “We’re surrounded by all this technology that’s supposed to be so world-changing and amazing, but a lot of the time it just leaves people feeling disconnected,” he says. “I really believe there’s another path through all this insanity, and it starts with putting down our phones, taking care of ourselves, being kind to other people. We need to be wowed by what’s actually real, like nature and love and music—these things that almost everyone has access to, and that still have the power to truly move us.”
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