Year in Rock 2011 Nominee: Wilco

WILCO
Born Alone

From: The Whole Love
Released: September 27

Wilco fans can be a hard bunch to please.  Granted, when you grace the world with such a sublime and effortless classic as Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, expectations tend to be raised.  That album is the stuff of legend, partially due to its story.  The product of tension, exploration and drug consumption, it was the kind of album so strange you could see why a major label didn't want to touch it with a ten-foot pole (it actually cost them their record deal when Warner Bros. refused to release it), yet it was so thrilling you could also see why fans who heard it rallied for it feverishly (they eventually got it released on Nonesuch and elevated it to instant classic status).  It was the first album of its generation; buried by suits who didn't get it and resurrected by the internet not only as one of Wilco's better efforts, but also one of the greatest groundswell success stories rock has ever seen.


For better or worse, the heightened artistic expectations that come from such a monumental love-in have dogged Wilco ever since.  Fans and critics have bickered about and nitpicked their output relentlessly over the past ten years; A Ghost is Born too weird, Sky Blue Sky too light, Wilco (the Album) too silly.  However, there seemed to be more excitement looming over The Whole Love.  Their first album as independent artists, there was a great deal of interest over what the band would do with their new found freedom.

When you press play, it becomes crystal clear that the band's thirst for experimentation is back in full force.  Art of Almost has scattershot beats, blips and bloops, ominous atmospheres and a host of other oddities over its first five minutes before erupting with noise, ending with a cacophony of guitars that ranks head and shoulders above anything else they've recorded in terms of heaviness.  The song is Wilco's kitchen sink mission statement that attempts to mash up every song they and Radiohead have ever recorded.  It's a novel song that's definitely worth mentioning and has assuredly captured the hearts of longtime supporters; it's the consensus favourite off The Whole Love.

Which is why, upon a casual listening, the rest of the album can seem so disheartening.  As if they'd blown their load on track one, the other eleven tracks don't touch it when it comes to noise or tension.  In fact, it's easy to dismiss the rest of the album as lesser material that doesn't live up to Art of Almost's promise.  However, upon further inspection, one can hear that same restless experimentation free-flowing throughout the entire album.  Rather than shove it in your face, though, it's kept bubbling just under the surface.  Still, it's there; a little feedback here, a keyboard stab there, a dissonant chord somewhere else.  It's clear that Wilco had fun in the studio, and the results come across not as cold, calculated risks, but genuinely intriguing twists.

In the end, it seemed too easy to go with the herd and nominate Art of Almost as the album's marquee track, but I decided to go with something that better represents The Whole Love.  Born Alone reflects both the same vagabond attitude that made Yankee Hotel Foxtrot amazing and the main reason why The Whole Love is that album's not anything like it.  Whereas YHF was fueled by tension, heroin and uncertainty, The Whole Love is still a little on edge, but much more clearheaded and hopeful; it's the curious and playful product that can only come from a band tasting its first sip of freedom.