There are moments when music stops being entertainment and becomes an act of resistance. Peacelands, the newly released acoustic album from My Morning Jacket, lives firmly in that space. Stripped down, patient, and deeply human, the record feels less like a traditional release and more like an offering, one made in solidarity with the people of Minneapolis and with communities everywhere seeking dignity, safety, and justice.
Available now exclusively via Bandcamp, Peacelands gathers fourteen songs, recorded with an intentional softness that lets the message breathe. Produced by six-time GRAMMY® Award winner Shawn Everett at EastWest Studios’ famed Studio Three in Hollywood. These are songs that sit beside you, not above you, songs that listen as much as they speak.
At the heart of the project is a concept created by Louisville artist Mark Anthony Mulligan, Peacelands, an imagined place of peace, friendship, and equality. Jim James describes it not as a fantasy, but as a destination we are still capable of reaching, if we are willing to slow down, listen to one another, and choose compassion over cruelty. In a world defined by division and dehumanization, the album insists that another path remains possible.
Musically, Peacelands feels like a communal circle. Familiar My Morning Jacket and Jim James songs such as “I’m Amazed” and “Here In Spirit” are reborn in acoustic form, their vulnerability heightened. The covers read like a lineage of conscience: Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ In The Wind,” Brian Wilson’s “Love and Mercy,” The Velvet Underground’s “I Found A Reason,” and the spirit of Woody Guthrie woven directly into “Changing World.” These aren’t nostalgia plays; they’re reminders that protest, hope, and care have always been part of the American songbook.
What gives Peacelands its real weight is where the music leads. All proceeds from the album benefit the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Doctors Without Borders, and the International Rescue Committee, organizations working on the front lines of civil rights, humanitarian aid, and global relief. For those seeking additional ways to help, a broader directory of activists and organizers can be found at standwithminnesota.com.
Even the artwork reflects the spirit of the record. The album cover comes from an anonymous handmade wood carving discovered years ago in a second-hand shop in Missoula, Montana, unpolished, imperfect, and undeniably human. Like the album itself, it feels found rather than manufactured, carrying quiet power through sincerity rather than spectacle.
For a band celebrated for expansive, transcendent live performances and decades of sonic exploration, Peacelands may stand as one of My Morning Jacket’s most important releases, not because it is loud, but because it listens. In an era defined by outrage and speed, the album asks for something radical: patience, empathy, and belief in one another.
Peacelands is available now via Bandcamp. Every purchase is a small but meaningful step toward turning that imagined land into something real.
Support the causes
Leave a Reply