Purity Ring’s Megan James Debuts MMJ Solo Project With First Single “Nobody Knows”

For years, “MMJ” has usually pointed people toward My Morning Jacket. In some corners, it still means medical marijuana. Now Megan James has staked the initials to something else entirely: MMJ, the new solo project from one half of Purity Ring.

James first announced the project last month, along with news that she had signed to Captured Tracks and would be opening for Purity Ring on the group’s upcoming tour with a solo set. That rollout set the frame: this is not a clean break from Purity Ring so much as a separate lane, one that lets James test out a different scale and tone while still moving in the same orbit.

Today brings the first song from the project, “Nobody Knows,” and it leans noticeably away from the sleek electro-pop that made Purity Ring’s name. The track moves closer to an acoustic, singer-songwriter register, with James opening on the lines, “Nobody knows/ A fallen star/ From wildfire ash/ Raining down on the yard.”

James has described the song as a reflection on how little we actually know, and on the things we overlook even when they are right in front of us. “It presents the ways we know so little, but also the things we deny and can see if we choose to, and what we should see and be in order to survive in this place; what we deserve to have and be as individuals and collectively,” she said. “Nobody Knows” is circular, a fractal glimpse of humanity in the span of a song. I hope you feel it.”