WILCO - The Whole Love (dBpm)

Sad fact: I haven't given a shit about anything Wilco has done in years. Given the slew of mediocre to boring releases in the wake of the masterful "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," I can't really be blamed for my apathy. After all, it is not my fault that one of the greatest bands in the world went from all killer to all filler overnight. I spent more than a few moments in time over the years wondering what went wrong. Was the real talent in the band actually Jay Bennett? Was a sober Jeff Tweedy a lame Jeff Tweedy? After a while, I really just didn't give a damn. There were plenty of bands out there making great music to occupy my time. The tragedy, though, was that none of those bands sounded like Wilco at their height. When Wilco was at the top of their game, no one, other than maybe Radiohead, could touch them. Their ability to mix experimentalism with pop was astonishing on a level that approached the Beatles, and the aforementioned Radiohead. So when early positive reviews of the band's latest work "The Whole Love" began to surface, I was hopeful, if more than a little skeptical; after all, "Sky Blue Sky" and "Wilco (the Album)" all received generally positive reviews initially, reviews that arguably were padded by the goodwill Wilco had garnered over the years. Fortunately this time out, those initial reviews were spot on, maybe even a little too conservative in their praise, or maybe it's that the sound of Wilco caring about music again is so damn exciting that I can't really temper my own praise. Regardless, I love this record.

Opener "Art of Almost" starts the album out strong with pulsating electronics, a skittish Radiohead-like bass and beat, and anxious strings that swell at just the right moment. It's a massive, almost unwieldy, number that would sound like slop in a lesser band's hands, but Wilco control this beast all the way up until the end when they let loose with a torrent of blistering guitar that rocks harder than anything their English counterpart has done in years. If there is one drawback to "The Whole Love," it is that there aren't any other songs quite like "Art of Almost" on the album. At the same time what follows is the band's most consistent, catchy and enjoyable record in years.

For the most part, the record channels in catchy pop songs with experimental fringe like lead single "I Might," which is easily the band's most memorable song since "War On War" and "Heavy Metal Drummer." Ultimately, if there is a record most like "The Whole Love" in Wilco's back catalog it is the psychedelic pop candy of "Summerteeth," yet rather than sound like a Brian Wilson production, this sounds like Wilco and Wilco only. One of the record's best tracks, "Born Alone," is the kind of song that only this band could make. The song starts off like a Jayhawks' song, and then explodes into the sky with a shimmering repetitive guitar motif and galloping drums. From there it only grows bigger and better like a fireworks display. It's the mixture of the familiar with the foreign, in this case americana with krautrock, that makes the song so much like Wilco at their best, and also because it is Wilco at their best.

There are lots of little treats scattered throughout the record as well, including "Black Moon," which sounds suspiciously like Tweedy's Uncle Tupelo classic "Black Eye." I guess if you are going to cannibalise your own music, you might as well cannibalise one of your finest moments. It's a welcome song that will strike the mystic chords of memory in more than a few listeners. "Sunloathe" is a nice little slice of the kind of psych-futurism that characterized the Flaming Lips, Radiohead (once again), and Wilco back in the day and is another welcome diversion. The Van Dyke Parks influenced "Capital City" is also a distinctive highlight. Really there isn't a bad song on this record. There is no filler here. Each song has its charm and each finds the band fully awake and engaged.

The record closes with the beautiful and delicate "One Sunday Morning (Song For Jane Smiley's Boyfriend)." As an aside, I couldn't help but think of Badly Drawn Boy at his best when I first heard the track. It's a pitch perfect acoustic shuffle complete with chimes, piano and powerful, but understated, emotion. At over twelve minutes in length, it's the album's longest track, yet it casts such a spell that it leaves you wanting more. The same could be said for the whole record.

If you had told me a month ago that I would fall in love with the new Wilco record, I would have laughed in your face and told you to fuck off. Partly because deep down I wanted that to be true, but believed it no longer possible. Thankfully "The Whole Love" is a prima facie example of why F. Scott Fitzgerald was full of shit when he said "there are no second acts in American lives." This is the sound of Wilco no longer going through the motions. Instead, they are making music worthy of their hallowed name for the first time in years. "The Whole Love" easily gets my highest recommendation possible.

"Art Of Almost"


"I Might"


"Black Moon"