WILCO

The Whole Love

[dBpm/ANTI]

Although its first seven minutes and last 12 minutes help to make The Whole Love Wilco’s boldest record since 2001’s landmark Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, those opening and closing marathons are also familiar reminders of leader Jeff Tweedy’s wide emotional range. Amid the gloom of the opening “Art of Almost,” Tweedy is the dark-clothed loner with his head down. Yet he’s the same man who, on the closing “One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend),” can shut his eyes and achieve a seemingly cosmic father-son connection straight out of Terrence Malick’s film The Tree of Life. In between, Tweedy’s occasionally puzzling lyrics make his intentions unclear—but drummer Glenn Kotche is always on hand to draw us into everything from the chaos of “Born Alone” to the jangly pop of “Dawned on Me.” No such assistance is needed on the title song, which features Tweedy at his most joyful and direct. –DS

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