VIA PRESS RELEASE | Jim James has announced the release of Regions of Light and Sound of God (Deluxe Reissue), a newly expanded edition of his landmark 2013 debut solo album available via ATO Records on Friday, July 29.
Regions of Light and Sound of God (Deluxe Reissue) includes the original nine-song album along with a bonus LP featuring 12 rare B-sides, previously unreleased demos, and alternate takes, presented as a 2xLP on clear vinyl with an opaque purple “color-in-color” effect, with a deluxe tip-on gatefold jacket with rainbow foil, custom inner-sleeves, labels, and fold-out insert with new artwork. Pre-orders are available now.
“I have changed a lot since then, many times over,” says James. “So, in a lot of ways, it’s like a time machine, thinking about these songs, remembering what life was like back then. What I have gained and lost since. It makes me feel grateful for all of the gifts I have been given and for all of the love I have experienced in my life. It also makes me really miss some people, places, and things as well that I know I can never get back.
It’s wild how as we age, we become more and more aware, more and more conscious, at least it seems that way to me. For most of my life, I feel like I was just RUNNING…trying my best but not fully conscious or aware of what was really happening. So lost—for better or worse. Not that we ever will be fully aware of anything but when I look back a lot of the time, I get this feeling where I am just blown away by how much we change as life goes on, and it seems to me one of the supreme gifts of getting older is increased awareness.”
Regions of Light and Sound of God (Deluxe Reissue) includes such otherworldly songs as the previously unheard “Read Between (Begin Again),” joined today by a new official visualizer streaming now at YouTube. “I wrote ‘Read Between’ about my great aunt who was suffering from dementia at the time,” James says. “It is so wild to watch someone you love slowly disappear right before your eyes mentally while their body continues to hang on for a while. Really made me question the nature of the soul and spirit—what exactly is it that truly makes a person who they are? Where does ‘the soul’ go as dementia sets in? Is the soul slowly slipping into the next realm but part of it is hanging on and doesn’t want to let go yet? Is the soul gone and the body left to just spit out random information? It’s so WILD to watch that notion of ‘soul’ slip away in someone and wonder if one day it will slip away for me too in a similar way?
As I zoomed out from it and thought more about the nature of death in general, I really have learned in a lot of ways to come to peace with death and accept that it is just another doorway—the ending of one chapter and the beginning of another, so in that way it also makes me feel really excited about what possibilities lay beyond the end of this particular lifetime. Not that I am in any hurry for this lifetime to be over but also, I am excited to see what comes next. Who knows?!”
Regions of Light and Sound of God (Deluxe Reissue) also includes such otherworldly songs as the space-funk-powered album opener, “State of the Art (A.E.I.O.U).” “‘State of the Art’ has been a really interesting song because I feel like it seems to hold its place well with folks as time rages on and technology continues to shape our lives and the world we live in,” James says, “and how can we weave our love and our nature and our blood into this tech. For me, I know that technology is a constant battle because it enhances our lives in so many ways, but I feel like it can distract from what’s real or important as well, so I am always thinking about how I can try and use technology like a Swiss Army knife—use it when I need it for whatever I may need it for, but then put it away and not let it control me or take over my consciousness completely.”
First released on February 5, 2013, Regions of Light and Sound of God debuted at #1 on Billboard’s “Vinyl Albums” and “Tastemaker Albums” charts, with top 10 debuts on “Alternative Albums,” “Independent Albums” and “Top Rock Albums” as well as at #34 on the overall Billboard 200. Produced, written, engineered, and almost entirely performed by James (with additional live drums played by longtime friend David Givan), the album was met by universal critical acclaim for its visionary reach into theretofore unexplored new musical terrain for the My Morning Jacket frontman, its nine original songs defying easy categorization while ringing out with clarity and a true sense of purpose.
“Firsts are always exciting, and this was my first solo album,” says James. “That is something I reflect on a lot—our culture’s obsession with NEW—and how we keep on inspiring ourselves as time rolls on and things aren’t NEW anymore, be that a career or a relationship or what have you. For me that is one of the many gifts of music, that each day it gives me the chance to begin again. Any project that I am working on consumes my heart and transports me to that special place where time and space change and there is endless possibility to start anew.”
