In the South, the spirit of what you’re doing comes through you. Southern music — or at least the mythology of blues, country and gospel, those cornerstones of 20th-century pop — relies on mysterious “feel” and “soul” so much that a vague, super-corporeal force (call it truth) that exists despite its host is now central to our interpretation of most popular music. Right?

My Morning Jacket certainly bang the can that way. On past records, the ever-rootsy (and that means Southern-styled, remember) Louisvillians almost always wore two favorite, ephemeral garments: a drawn-out, time-innocent drawl and their signature coming-from-the-ghostly-forgotten-past vibe, both of which they’ve managed to write and record quite well without, as new album Z evidences. Its slide-guitar atmospherics prelude grungier stomps that we’ve heard from these boys before. Quintessentially MMJ grain-silo reverb for once shares space with a fresh reggae daydream — “Off the Record” could have been a train wreck, but their sprawling musicianship (and Jim James’ towering songwriting) turn it into the album’s best song. Z is far from perfect (although its production is just that), but all the musical wanderlust shows one thing: My Morning Jacket, like the best Southern musicians, have enough of that mystery feel to play just what comes out.