YANKEE HOTEL FOXTROT: The fourth record by american alt rock band wilco, released after creatively differences with their former label. But is it good?
So I'm gonna come clean. This album isn't new to me. Not even a bit. I've heard this album easily 100 times, maybe 200. So why am I talking about it on my "new music" blog?
Well, I want to mix the blog up a bit. Every ten weeks (so 20,30 etc) I'm going to look back at an album that I've spent lots of time with and I can discuss at length- or maybe something else entirely. For the first of these "special editions", I'm looking at this record.
This album is one of the first records I really got into. I forget where I saw it first, but it was an abum that sat in my mind after hearing it, so I used a youtube downloader on the full 51 minute 51 second rip, and usb'd it to my phone, and It's been on every phone I've had since.
But what does it sound like? Well, alot of things. Specifically in the opening track, I am trying to break your heart. It's 7 minutes long uses about every instrument under the sun, from electronics to bass to electric guitars to bike bells to drums and more, before the lead singer Jeff Tweedy announces "I am an american aquarium drinker". strange and often nonsensical lyrics are a pretty big part of the record. In his recent memoir, "Lets go (so we can get back)" Tweedy deliberates on this, saying he makes "mumble tracks", and claims the melody does the emotional heavy lifting- the actual words come later; the meaning is found thru the process of converting mumbles to actual words. The track builds itself up and breaks down over and over across the verses. The weird instrumental pallette feels like a headache, with piano melodies and synth humming floating around the back of the song, before Tweedy tries to introduce a bit of melody from track 8.
Next is Kamera, a remarkably more conventional track but no less well crafted track. Tweedy's monotone singing narrates an apparent need for self critique, and maybe blissfull ignorance when presented with yourself: "for my family, tell them I'm lost, yeh I'm lost. And no, it's not OK". The track wraps itself up at half the runtime of the first, and we're launced into radio cure.
Radio cure takes the album to another level entirely. It's barren and hopeless, Jeff sings "There is something wrong with me". The lyrical imagery creates a hazy, abstract landscape. There's a brief moment of lucidity in the hook "Distance has no way of making love understandable" before falling back under to a hardly awake haze. Considering Tweedy's abuse of pain pills, the track can start to explain itself. When the hook comes around again, this time 4 times as strong, it packs a real emotional punch. Tweedy sounds genuinely pained as the instrumental swells behind him.
Track 4 is war on war. It's remarkably more upbeat, with a nice piano melody and pushing drum beat. Despite the simplicty of the lyrics, they've got alot to look into- talking about learning to die and demons with flaming doors. Again, the weird electronics make themselves known, and really set the apart from what it would have been acoustically. The distorted electronics give the whole album a real cohesion, as if they're a headache that you can't get rid of- again, something Tweedy suffers from in the form of migraines.
Jesus, etc is remarkably more relaxed. It's carried by a laid back drumbeat, warm bass and soft piano. It feels like taking the time to just sit back, stop moving so fast- "Don't cry, you can rely on me, honey, You can come by any time you want" the string section and pedal steel guitar add alot to the track too. It's probably the most easy to listen to track on the record.
Ashes of American Flags is next. and evokes the same feeling of travelling as war on war. The electronics return in spades here, as well as another pained hook from Tweedy- "all my lies are always wishes. I know I would die if I could come back new". The track feels full but empty at the same time, it feels impermanent, and serves as an excelent crux of the record.
After this we're treated to Heavy metal drummer. Another fairly striaght forward cut on the record, Tweedy has said the purpose of the song is to remind him to "lighten up" once in a while- and the track certainly lightens the record up. The beat is upbeat, the lyrics are idyllic and the whole thing just works. Another great track.
I'm the man who loves you and pot kettle black follow this, and are also pretty conventional. I'm the man has this electric guitar that comes and goes as it pleases, as well as some cool horns and vocal melodies. Pot kettle black has a cool range of textures and some more cryptic lyricism, and like Kamera has some pretty self critical lyrics. The chorus is catchy, it goes thru quiet and loud bits, and the intimate vocals work well too.
The album then fades into Poor places, the penultimate track that sees a return of the electronics in a pretty major way. It tries to keep itself upbeat, but the melancholy lyrics give way a build up of buzzing noise, a female vocalist from a numbers station repeating the album's title on repeat until it cuts itself off.
The final track is reservations. If you thought some of the other tracks were barren, well, this one takes the whole cake. It serves as a reflection on the record, with Tweedy reassuring someone it isn't their fault by the end. The electronic sounds just take over by the end of the track. I can't think of a better way to end the album.
The more time I've spent with the record, the more I've understood not only the songs but the cover. Initially it gives very little away- Just 2 buildings against a biege background. What? But as you listen to the songs and start thinking about it more, the cover just suits the mood of the album perfectly. The whole record is great and I'll probably be listening to it for years to come. A true masterpiece.
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