The Red and Black

Issue date: 7/17/09 Section: Variety

Chicago-based alternative country-rock sextet Wilco underwent a sudden loss in May.

Former bandmate Jay Bennett died from a painkiller overdose in his sleep.

In light of that tragedy, it's curious that Wilco's eponymous release - enitled "Wilco (The Album)" - sounds lighthearted and freewheeling.

Then again, considering 2006's breezy "Sky Blue Sky" and the absurd camel-standing-on-a-table album art, the direction makes more sense.

As with most self-titled records, "Wilco" sounds unmistakably like Wilco. By this point in its 15-year career, the band has established a smooth, very professional style all its own. This also means Wilco is playing it safe, as the bizarre experimentalism of "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" or "A Ghost Is Born" is nowhere to be found here.

Pieces of Wilco's bygone adventurousness linger: The motorik beat that propels "Bull Black Nova" harks back to "Spiders (Kidsmoke)," enhanced by angular melodies from lead axe-man Nels Cline, and the climax of "One Wing" emerges with the abruptness of a brick wall.

Otherwise, "Wilco" is a terse collection of consistent tunes with few surprises. Consistency has its merits but can be tiresome on record. No song on the album is particularly weak on its own, but an overabundance of gentle, acoustic material ("Country Disappeared," "Solitaire," "Deeper Down") causes it to lag.

Lyrically, little has changed in Wilco's world: frontman Jeff Tweedy's lyrics still center around somber themes of separation and recovery.

But musically, "Wilco" manages to shed most of the dark undertones that filled "Sky Blue Sky" thanks to the straightforward, jaunty numbers ("Wilco (The Song)," "You Never Know").

The one song that leaves me on the fence is "You and I," a duet with Feist. Her voice dovetails beautifully with Tweedy's and demands sonorous harmonies, but instead the song adheres to a disappointing unison arrangement.

VERDICT: Nothing revolutionary here - but thankfully, Tweedy and company are aware their ambitious older days are past and continue to mature with grace.

-John Barrett