Photo Credit: Owen Ela

My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James has released a new song featuring a strong political message, which he claims is a response to the recent shooting at the Orlando nightclub Pulse. The song is part of the “30 Days 30 Songs” project which aims to gather songs from various musicians in support of a Trump-free America. It is also the first single released from James’ forthcoming second solo album Eternally Even, which is scheduled to be released November 4th. If the song can tell us anything about the overall nature of the album, then it is certainly promising us something spectacularly moving.

James had this to say about the lyrics of this new single: “It’s […] about speaking out and trying to be there for people in spirit even if you can’t be at every rally and battle. We have such a duty to speak out for equality and for each other.”

The lyrics succeed in sending a powerful message of both personal and universal responsibility for the current state of society. The song includes  a simulated glitch towards the end that acts as a metaphor for the emotional disturbance caused by every tragic event that takes place in the name of prejudice or hate of any kind. It aims to inspire the listener to do what they can to support their brothers and sisters, even if it isn’t by necessarily taking physical action, and to speak out for their beliefs. One part of the song says “Believe what you want, go on and be who you are, go out and get what you want, full of life…If you don’t speak out, we can’t hear it”.