At some point, over the better half of the decade, Wilco managed to outgrow their once fitting reputation as the best band you’ve never heard of. Through their steadily inadvertent progression en route for larger-scale popularity, Wilco have made acquaintances with more soon to be fans and critics that were probably asking “What’s a Wilco?” not too long ago; and in the meantime, continued to remind the folks that had been around for a while, why they remain so consistently interesting.
However, the band’s self-entitled 7th album, 2009’s “Wilco (The Album),” presented a jarringly safer sound than 2007’s “Sky Blue Sky” and while both efforts were enjoyable to fans and critics each album dipped progressively deeper into the realm of the acceptable, “radio-friendly” rock music. If there had ever been a definitive “Wilco” sound, “Wilco (The Album)” was the closest semblance of such since their pre-“Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (YHF)” days. There was a general concern that the most genre bending, ever-evolving, alt-everything-but-the-kitchen-sink act in modern American rock music was beginning to show signs of stagnancy for the first time in a long time, if ever. At long last, had the band known for its musical risk taking and ongoing identity crises, finally found their “sound?” And if so, what did this mean exactly?
Such concerns reached their climax and resolution with the anticipation of this week’s official release of “The Whole Love” (the album had previously streamed both on Wilco’s official website for 24 hours on September 3, and later on National Public Radio). The band’s 8th studio release and first on their self-made label dBpm Records takes more creative chances than “Wilco (The Album)” and yet is more listenable than the experimental “YHF” follow up, “A Ghost Is Born.” “The Whole Love” is a fair compromise, a timely return to the band’s ongoing creative touches to conventional, top notch music making.
The album showcases several of the band’s quintessential incarnations, all of which should sound familiar and refreshing to fans. The snappier, energized, melodically driven rock tunes act as bookmarks on “The Whole Love,” the first of which being the nonsensical first single “I Might” followed later on by the infectiously upbeat “Dawned On Me.” Both evoke the band’s knack for catchy, interesting rock songs, a style that frontman Jeff Tweedy had coined “snot-nosed pop” in a recent “Rolling Stone” interview.
However, from the deliberately incoherent mad-gab like lyrics of “I Might” to the deceptively deep “Born Alone” or the Beatles-esq title track anthem “The Whole Love” the creative approach and overall meaning of these simple sounding rock songs vary greatly. While each is as thoughtful as any Wilco effort, how this thoughtfulness is executed seems always in a flux, to the audience’s listening benefit.
When “The Whole Love” isn’t giving you neck spasms from all of the head bobbing, the band’s quintessential alt-country excellence remains a force to be reckoned with. Gems like “Open Mind” pair poetically conversational lyrics with archetypal country melodies (as Tweedy so often does) not to mention Glenn Kotche’s creative break beat drumming within the framework of what would otherwise be just another country a waltz, reinforces the band’s own invention of a new-old “county standard” sound.
The ragtime meets country shuffle feel of “Capitol City” is a work of playful musical perfectionism, recalling the band’s collaborative work on “Mermaid Ave” with rhythm and tempo changes galore from parts A to B to C, reaffirming their unflinching willingness to throw in 3 ritardandos and a grand pause on a modern rock album. And just in case you get too caught up in the instrumentation, Tweedy pulls you right back with refreshing five part vocal lines suggesting that we too, “Breath in that country air”.
However the greatest moment on any Wilco effort, including this one, are those once per album occasions when the band directs its collective, always shifting attention span on a single, unforgettable melody line like they do on “Rising Red Lung.” Tweedy ushers us in, “as intimate as a kiss over a phone…and it goes…” this lyric is followed by one of the most truly beautiful, sentimental melodies you’ll hear, and plays the exclamation point to “Rising Red Lung’s” 3 minutes of melodic perfection.
There’s really a lot to like about this album and just about as much to love, even romanticize. Don’t sweat it, despite many haphazard or hesitant music reviews out there, the band has really cut loose on this album and provided us all with another masterpiece. From the track listing, to the production, from the songwriting to the execution “The Whole Love” is, without question, just another great Wilco effort.
