Wilco
Sky Blue Sky
Warner/Nonesuch records

Four Stars

When Wilco played tracks from the as-yet-unreleased Sky Blue Sky to an adoring Sydney audience a month or so back, the new material fit seamlessly in with the band's already hearty arsenal. To hear Sky Blue Sky in its entirety for the first time is a boon for long time fans of the band, and by far the most accessible entry point for anyone else who's so far lumped Wilco in the too hard/too country/too mopey basket (fools!).

While Jeff Tweedy has staked his claim as one of rock's most introspective and heavy-hearted lyricists, on Sky Blue Sky you can almost picture him peering into sunlight that stubbornly continues to pour through cloud-heavy Chicago skies. Sky Blue Sky is the home at the end of the path of most resistance, documenting a mental battle hard fought and won.

While making no secret of his triumph over depression, you'd be ill-advised to assume he has altogether abandoned his acerbic wit, or melancholy turns of phrase, as 'Hate it Here' attests: What am I gonna do when I run out of shirts to fold? / What am I gonna do when I run out of lawn to mow?/ What am I gonna do if you never come home? / Tell me, what am I gonna do?

Musically Wilco continue to mix up and discard and deconstruct genres which cannot contain them. There are lush production values on this record, which recall at times some of the West Coast, AM sounds of the 70s, like Fleetwood Mac circa Rumours. Still butting up against the ghost of Neil Young, Wilco have made another record worth listening to very closely.