Red Mosquito

tragabigzanda wrote:

This is a restrained, almost cold album. There is no screaming or wailing blasts of feedback. For this reviewer, it is the lack of unrestrained emotion or playing that makes this harder to connect with on a visceral level. Wilco bring a wild energy to live performances both in Jeff’s vocals and the group’s playing and dynamic. This is a different beast, almost an exercise in muted sobriety. There is a sense of musicians seeking sounds rather than musical dexterity or brilliance. Hushed and reverent in many ways but there is a power within the restraint. Repeated plays reveal nuances and moods that swirl around Jeff Tweedy’s careful often wracked vocals. There is celebration after the journey, but it feels hesitant, with an eye in the rear-view mirror. Wilco have made another compelling album, not as immediately accessible as Cruel Country or indeed Sky Blue Sky, but it is one that rewards repeated listening flowering into something both moving and essential.

Kevin Davis wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:

This is a restrained, almost cold album. There is no screaming or wailing blasts of feedback. For this reviewer, it is the lack of unrestrained emotion or playing that makes this harder to connect with on a visceral level. Wilco bring a wild energy to live performances both in Jeff’s vocals and the group’s playing and dynamic. This is a different beast, almost an exercise in muted sobriety. There is a sense of musicians seeking sounds rather than musical dexterity or brilliance. Hushed and reverent in many ways but there is a power within the restraint. Repeated plays reveal nuances and moods that swirl around Jeff Tweedy’s careful often wracked vocals. There is celebration after the journey, but it feels hesitant, with an eye in the rear-view mirror. Wilco have made another compelling album, not as immediately accessible as Cruel Country or indeed Sky Blue Sky, but it is one that rewards repeated listening flowering into something both moving and essential.

Thanks for sharing this and the video of the new song, Trag. I think I'd be a lot more excited by some of those descriptions -- "restrained, almost cold," "a sense of musicians seeking sounds," "nuances and moods that swirl around Jeff Tweedy's careful and often wracked vocals" -- had I not already heard the two advance tracks, which make me fear that this review is just critical longhand for "dull songs cluttered by occasionally compelling production flourishes." I hate being so unmoved by something that the best description I can come up with for it is "dull" or "boring," but man, that is what these songs are doing for me -- I am just not feeling them at all. I've been a Wilco fan since the early 2000's, and have gone to the mat for a lot of albums that others have hated, so I know that their albums have a way of upending first impressions, but there is a consistent flatlining quality to so much of their recent music (both Wilco's and Tweedy's) that I'm finding myself increasingly less motivated to push through. I realize I'm just going off two songs, so I sincerely hope I'm wrong.

tragabigzanda wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:Top 10 maybe?
Hello Morning
Close Captioned
The Kill
Place/Position
Do You Like Me?
Latest Disgrace
Recap Modotti
Nightshop
Break
Life & Limb

I'd maybe bump Life & Limb for Epic Problem

tragabigzanda wrote:3. Le Bon is apparently “skeptical of sentiment” in songs, and would push Jeff to not try to sell the listener on any sort of emotion.

tragabigzanda wrote:I wouldn’t say “nothing special.” It’s VERY much a Cate le Bon record, and it’s fairly brave of the band to put themselves so completely in her hands.

But I find myself more interested in the sounds than the songs, and that’s a first for me and Wilco. Some notable insights from a bunch of reviews that I was reading yesterday:

1. The songs were selected by le Bon from a larger group that Jeff had sent her, which he characterized as not having found a home yet on an album.

2. Le Bon showed up at the studio knowing how to play and sing every song on the guitar, and began stripping them all down and recreating them.

3. Le Bon is apparently “skeptical of sentiment” in songs, and would push Jeff to not try to sell the listener on any sort of emotion.

I feel like I can hear all that in this album. There’s a lab-grown quality to it. Just can’t decide how much I like it yet.

tragabigzanda wrote:

tragabigzanda wrote:Top 10 maybe?
Hello Morning
Close Captioned
The Kill
Place/Position
Do You Like Me?
Latest Disgrace
Recap Modotti
Nightshop
Break
Life & Limb

I'd maybe bump Life & Limb for Epic Problem

tragabigzanda wrote:Great read for those falling off the wagon:

Why Is Everyone Always Saying Such Dumb Shit About Wilco?
https://www.insidehook.com/article/musi ... sin-review