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Wilco Sky Blue Sky

It’s true that the latest album release from Chicago folk-rockers Wilco marks a turnaround from the experimental edge of A Ghost Is Born. But this is not a return to the Wilco of old. It’s mature, understated and beat perfect.

The self-produced Sky Blue Sky was recorded by TJ Doherty (Sonic Youth, the Hold Steady), at the band’s Chicago studio, and mixed by Jim Scott (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dixie Chicks, Rolling Stones). It’s less bleepy than A Ghost Is Born– or Yankee Hotel Foxtrot for that matter. It’s measured, with many mid-paced songs and an introspective approach to the lyrics. It may be the Wilco equivalent of Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks.

According to Tweedy, the common ground for the latest incarnation of the band — a six-piece lineup including founding bassist John Stirratt, drummer Glenn Kotche, keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen, multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone and guitarist Nels Cline, is music from the late 1960s and early 1970s. In line with that, they recorded on a two-inch reel-to-reel tape machine instead of a computer, which is extremely rare these days.

If it’s a return to their roots, it’s certainly a quiet one. There’s little of the country twang of the debut A.M., nor is there the power-pop or Big Star rock of sophomore release Being There, which thematically was mainly about the recording process itself.

There is however, a definite strain of 1970s soft rock, from Steely Dan, The Eagles and other artists who are associated with the Laurel Canyon country-rock school of song craft.

Al Kooper-style keyboards lay a bed for Jeff Tweedy to kick the album off, singing: “Maybe the Sun will shine today, the clouds will blow away”. “You Are My Face” has rich, warm tones from guitars, keys and multi-layered harmonies and the soft swing of a Celtic soul hit. “Impossible Germany” (unlikely Japan) – starts with a very Sonic Youth-inspired guitar part, but soon dives into Californian A.M. radio rock, with an Eagles-like twin guitar refrain during the instrumental outro.

Title track “Sky Blue Sky” is one of the more traditional, country sounding entries, strongly acoustic with brushes dancing across the snare. “Hate it Here” is a dirty but soulful collision of Steely Dan and the Beatles. And “What Light” is well, brilliant. It’s an obvious single, with some outstanding lyrics: “When your songs are all sung, and your paintings are hung.”

Sky Blue Sky is an extremely settled sounding album, but it’s never smug, just expertly arranged and played. At no time does it lurch into pure chaos, or sound like anything explosive could happen. That may be its flaw, but it’s also what makes it a superb album.

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See also:

Interview with Wilco by Greg Kot, author of the Wilco biography Learning How to Die, at Popmatters.com

Read about the flak Wilco are copping over licensing their music for VW ads — and the response from Tweedy’s brother in law Danny Miller