Wilco Goes Complex & Evocative On Courageous ‘Cousin’
It is always a momentous occasion when Wilco rears its head. Despite how prolific the band has become, every time the Sonic Chameleons announce a new LP it feels like a calming deep breath. After touring extensively to promote 2022’s Cruel Country, an album that saw the band creating conventional country twang, Wilco wastes no time getting back to work.
After the release of one of the more straightforward albums they ever made, it is only fitting that the band’s return is something more abstract and daring. For the first time since 2007’s Sky Blue Sky, Jeff Tweedy and the gang brought in an outside producer to help create the next chapter in their storied career. Cate Le Bon is the co-producer of Cousin, Wilco’s most complex and evocative album in years. For ten stunning tracks, Wilco creates vague poetry set to off-kilter arrangements for an album that promises to be one of their most memorable to date.
If Cruel Country was Wilco’s box office smash, Cousin is the band’s black-and-white arthouse film. These 10 songs carry the weight of risk with them, Wilco created a daring piece of art that has them going in a brand new sonic direction that is still brimming with everything that makes us fans. Le Bon pulled something so refreshing out of the band that her contributions to Cousin should not go unnoticed. The band and Le Bon found an enticing middle ground to play in, the album is artsy enough for fans of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot but thanks to Tweedy’s songwriting and the band’s undeniable chemistry, Cousin is pure Wilco.
The essence of Cousin can be summed up by lyrics from the stand-out track “A Bowl And A Pudding”. Over twinkling guitars, Tweedy sings “Not saying anything says a lot”, a simple yet moving sentiment for the album. The music of Cousin feels very off-kilter and sparse but it is the slow-burning nature of these arrangments and their explosive crescendos that make the album so enticing. Wilco sets the tone on “Infinite Surprise”, a chugging ambiance melts into a guitar ballad of deep vulnerability. Simplistic yet heartfelt lyrics over palpable minimalism is the blueprint for Cousin but any blueprint handed to Wilco is promised to take on different shapes throughout their LPs. The arrangements become brighter on tracks like “Levee” while a moment like “Sunlight Ends” comes with conflicting tones that get resolved by criminally smooth melodies.
Wilco and Le Bon create sonic conflict and find solace in resolving it through moving poetry and expert musicianship. Cousin is the band’s most avant-garde album in years, as Tweedy unleashes ten moving pieces of poetry set to unpredictable arrangements that all evoke the feeling of warmth despite their cold disposition.