Critical Voices: Wilco, The Whole Love

While the release of a eighth album may suggest a band’s unwillingness to retire, with The Whole Love, alternative veterans Wilco prove that they’re creative juices are still running strong.   Continuing to avoid a defining genre, Wilco remains nestled somewhere between pop, alternative rock, and indie, once again incorporating new instruments and experimental sounds to live up to their continuity-through-change reputation.
“Art of Almost” begins the new album boldly with a collection of synthesized beats, acoustic riffs, and a classic electric guitar solo that could have been plucked out of a 1969 rock ‘n’ roll hit. “I Might” continues this instrumentation, but only a unifying electronic harmony remains as the third track, “Sunloathe,” brings the listener back to the band’s typical negative tone, which—surprise—ends up defining the album as a whole.
Even the vocals on upbeat tracks such as “Dawned on Me” and “Standing O” deal with the theme of unrequited love (the album title is ironic). The Whole Love only deals with the end of a false love and, as 12-minute epic “One Sunday Morning” illustrates, the inevitability of lonely death.
One track, “Capitol City,” stands out from the rest, which departs from the album’s melancholy tone with a feel-good, ragtime rhythm. Though the change may be a turnoff for fans of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot-era Wilco, the melody quickly disintegrates into a cacophony of experimental city sound samples and church bells, paving the way for a return to sadness, with frontman Jeff Tweedy singing, “I was born to die alone.”
The Whole Love has something for everyone, combining the repertoire of styles Wilco has been developing since 1995. From the mellow acoustic guitar riffs of “Open Mind” to the rock guitar solos of “Born Alone,” at least some part of this album will resonate with fans of previous Wilco hits. The album’s title seems to refer not to the broken hearts of the characters of the songs, but to the two decades of lovelorn musicianship by the band itself.