The Whole Love (Deluxe Edition)

Lineup stability and musical unpredictability

With seven long players in their catalogue, the Chicago-based band Wilco was seen as the most prolific performers seen on the entire indie-rock scene. Having solved the lineup instability, this ensemble turned into an exemplary gathering of talented authors and performers whose collaborations become better and better each time they release a new record. Recently, the band has been noticed playing with experimental sounds, which led to mixed appraisals of their latest albums, Sky Blue Sky (2007), and the self-titled effort from 2009. Nobody has ever questioned the professional traits of the musicians, but not all supporters of the sextet were happy about the offered innovations. And there could hardly be found a person who would speak out loud about what we should expect from Wilco’s eighth album. The outfit has taught the audience to be ready for anything. The new record arrived in autumn 2011 and received a name that hardly dropped any hint regarding the content, The Whole Love.

Original ideas on The Whole Love

Originals will be originals. Wilco open their fresh record not with a lively short song, which is a non-official rule for most musicians, but with a massive seven-minute piece called Art Of Almost. This is a wide range of various samples, jumping rhythms and other things that destruct music harmony and produce an effect of chaos and hysteria. As if nothing happened, we pass over to the optimistic and energetic I Might, a single. Number three is a psychedelic track named Sunloathe. It is followed by pop-rock Dawned On Me with a sticky melody so easy to remember. Later on, we fall into warm embraces of an acoustic song, Black Moon. As you can see, right from the start, Wilco have no intention to create any stylistic unity or common atmosphere for the entire album. Throughout The Whole Love, the musicians alternate low-tempo acoustic songs (Rising Red Lung, Open Mind) with more upbeat and reinvigorating stuff (Born Alone, Standing), and this seems the only pattern here. But apart from the set, there lies gigantic One Sunday Morning with, probably, best lyrics ever written by Jeff Tweedy and amazing instrumental work from each of Wilco members.

A serious work from mature crafters

The deluxe The Whole Love version with four bonus tracks lasts over seventy minutes. If Wilco ere not Wilco that would be an unbearable ordeal to listen to the whole record. However, the ensemble did get most out of their potential and manufactured not just another album, but a big and complex work consisting of many nuances and secrets. Each musician was required of incredible understanding of how his instrument is supposed to sound. The songs off The Whole Love are mosaics out of numerous details, each bearing its own meaning and forming its own emotion. This is a very delicate and accurate replay of some events to which we become witnesses and even participants. In the meantime, Wilco are not intended to reach out for us through consciousness, but do it through working with our emotional state. The lyrics here are continuations to the instrumental parts and seem to have no sense separated from the music. To dare make such a difficult album, one has to be a very mature and confident performer. But that’s exactly what the members of the brilliant Wilco are, right?