Hear Jim James Skewer Social Media on New Song ‘Throwback’
Jim James pairs scorching guitars with musings on social media and nostalgia on his new track “Throwback.” The song will appear on the My Morning Jacket frontman’s upcoming solo album, Uniform Distortion, out June 29th.
On “Throwback,” James mixes heavy glam riffs with a lo-fi rock aesthetic, adding some unexpected texture with MMJ-style backing harmonies. James’ lyrics cleverly describe the Twitter-sphere life: “Scroll back in time through your account/ Watch your face grow younger as real time runs out/ Throwback Thursday to the way that it was/ When we were young.”
James said he was inspired to write “Throwback” while he was, unsurprisingly, scrolling through social media. “Don’t get me wrong – social media is an amazing tool… but I think we should look at it more like a tool, like a hammer you pick up for a little while to do a job, and then you put it down,” James said. “You don’t sit there and keep hammering away or else pretty soon your entire world would be destroyed and fall apart! And I feel like that is exactly what is happening right before our very eyes, to this precious real beautiful human-filled earth. So lets wake each other up, people! Let’s stand up against injustice and use this tool of social media to fight for peace and love and equality.”
Uniform Distortion marks James’ first solo record of new material since 2016’s Eternally Even. Last year, he released Tribute to 2, a sequel to his 2009 covers EP, Tribute to.