Sve je Lakse Kada Je Tu Nels Cline... After seven studio albums, various collaborations and countless days on the road over the past 15 years, Wilco tried something new before starting work on its eighth record, The Whole Love, due Sept. 27 on dBpm Records: The Chicago band took a vacation. Staying off stage for most of the latter half of 2010 was the longest break from touring that bandleader Jeff Tweedy has had in a career stretching back more than 20 years.
“It was a real breath of fresh air,” says Tweedy, the singer, songwriter and
guitarist who founded the group in the mid-’90s. “Wilco has pretty much been
recording in between scheduled tours for 15 years or more, so it was really great
to have a chance to recharge and forget how to play all the old songs.”
Or, more specifically, to put the old songs out of mind long enough to write some
new ones. Although he wasn’t out on the road much, Tweedy was working,
writing so many songs that the musicians initially thought they had enough
material for two new records when Wilco reconvened last fall in the Loft, the
group’s Chicago recording studio.
“We entertained the idea of finishing both of those records independently of each other, and then at some point, the lines started getting blurrier and blurrier and they kind of grew together,” Tweedy says.
The result is 12 stunning songs that showcase Wilco in a new light, on bold
rockers, somber acoustic ballads and punchy pop songs, bookended by the
propulsive 7-minute opener “Art of Almost,” and a meditative 12-minute closing
track, “One Sunday Morning (song for Jane Smiley’s boyfriend).”
The Whole Love is the third album by Wilco’s present lineup, which solidified in
2004 when avant-garde guitarist Nels Cline and guitarist/keyboardist Patrick
Sansone joined Tweedy, founding bassist John Stirratt, drummer Glenn Kotche
and keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen. Together, they released the acclaimed Sky
Blue Sky in 2007 and the Grammy-nominated Wilco (The Album) in 2009. The
Whole Love, though, captures the vibrant energy the band brings to its live
performances.
