Wilco: Cruel Country | 4ZZZ Brisbane 102.1FM

- Wilco have always had a penchant for country. Twangy banjos and wispy pedal steels are frequently peppered throughout their discography, but they seldom take centre stage on their albums. On Wilco’s twelfth album, Cruel Country, the eclectic band lean unabashedly into their country roots. Despite the country flavour, don’t go mistaking it for their Nashville Skyline. In true Wilco fashion – things aren’t straight forward. For starters, Cruel Country is a double album (their first since sophomore album Being There), containing songs with extended jams, noise-scapes and psychedelic guitar effects, as well as dark, poetic lyrics. What is most incongruous with their latest release is the fact that the album was recorded live as a band with minimal overdubs, making it the first to have this approach since the 2007 classic Sky Blue Sky.

Jeff Tweedy recently published a book entitled How To Write One Song, where he opined about songwriting and the many exercises he utilises in that endeavour. He's certainly been practising what he preaches, with a proliferation of material in recent years. While the outpouring of output from such a brilliant songwriter is more than welcome, the sheer volume forces one to wonder whether quality is mitigated by quantity. However, you would be hard pressed to find a bad song on any Tweedy release. Of course, average songs are expected to appear on double albums (even The White Album has its lacklustre moments) but the record flows surprisingly well for its lengthy duration. One of the highlights is the astronomy-inspired transition between discs, from the melancholic The Universe, to wistful side two opener, Many Worlds.

Despite the aesthetic homogeny of country-based arrangements, there are myriad musical forays along the way. Bird Without A Tail / Base of My Skull has its lyrics lifted from the anonymous poem The Man of Double Deed which Tweedy melodiously recites before the band break into an extended jam. On songs like Mystery Binds, The Empty Condor and Tonight’s The Day, the band unleash their psychedelic and experimental tendencies, if only briefly. Elsewhere they play-up the country frivolity and songs like A Lifetime To Find, Falling Apart (Right Now) and Please Be Wrong feel like dusty country classics unearthed from a forgotten cellar. Even when diving into a genre, Wilco can’t help but put their own mark on proceedings. On second single, Tired Of Taking It Out On You, the band garnish Tweedy’s macabre, honest lyrics with deft licks and instrumentation, so adroitly that the result is haunting. It’s moments like these that make Wilco such a special band. Like Dylan & The Dead, it is the holy matrimony of brilliant songwriting and musicianship: simply miraculous.

- Jon Cloumassis.