Wilco - Cousin - New Album

[5hake1t0ff]

One early thought I have after two listens is this is the first album the sextet has managed to both play a wide range of styles and maintain the overall feel of it being one studio session, one artistic album. That has always been my issue with TWL, which is full of great songs and variety, but felt to me like a compilation of different studio sessions and lacked a certain cohesion.

 

Also, after reading a couple of reviews that were kind of 'meh' on the lyrics/sentiment of this album, I was super surprised to find myself very emotionally taken by several of these songs. There's a maturity to Jeff's writing these days that's unmatched.

 

Melodically, this album actually reminds me more of A Ghost is Born / More Like The Moon EP era than anything more recent.

[jff]

I've only listened once so far.  First impressions are that the highlights are Sunlight Ends, Cousin, and Pittsburgh.  Soldier Child was the low point for me.  One review said there are some songs only true believer Wilco fans will be able to tell apart from some older songs.  I think that's a reasonable criticism, and this song is an example of that.  I did enjoy the outro, but this one might end up in the Midco file.

 

I'm looking forward  to reassessing that sometime down the line. 

 

Overall, to my ear, there's more meat on the bone here than on their recent releases, and they sound more like WILCO than Jeff Tweedy ^{and wilco.}  Both of those things are huge improvements, imo.

 

 

[5hake1t0ff]

21 minutes ago, jff said:

Soldier Child was the low point for me.  One review said there are some songs only true believer Wilco fans will be able to tell apart from some older songs.

 

 

For me, Evicted is the low point, as it sounds too much like his pop-y solo songs but for a few Cate Le Bon-infused sonic flourishes. And I get how Soldier Child can sound of-a-kind with Across the World and White Wooden Cross, but I don't really mind it because I find it to be the most interesting, both melodically and interesting, of the three.

These are but quibbles for me, and I'm still stuck into listening to this album all the way through, at least for now.

[ViaNewOrleans]

2 hours ago, SarahC said:

The only track I'm not googley-eyed over is Ten Dead. It's *fine* but didn't make me say "yeah buddy!" after it was over. Granted, I've only listened to the record 4 times so far. 

Musically I really like this song but lyrically, it's kind of too current eventy (not a word I know) for my tastes. 

[nalafej]

1 hour ago, 5hake1t0ff said:

Melodically, this album actually reminds me more of A Ghost is Born / More Like The Moon EP era than anything more recent.

 

Oh, I hadn't thought of this and it is so spot on re: More Like the Moon (not as sure about AGIB). 

[Brian F.]

3 hours ago, SarahC said:

But at the same time I do think there's very clear melodic succession to OTJ. I think the melody on Infinite Surprise definitely takes a bit from Quiet Amplifier specifically the cadence. 

 

The only track I'm not googley-eyed over is Ten Dead. It's *fine* but didn't make me say "yeah buddy!" after it was over. Granted, I've only listened to the record 4 times so far. 

 

One of the things that made Ode to Joy such a chore for me was its lack of melody, so we'll have to agree to disagree.

 

When I said at least nine of ten tracks grabbed me right away, the one I wasn't sure about was "Ten Dead," so we'll have to agree to agree.

[Brian F.]

I retract all of my whining. The package arrived today. Tracking still shows it in Raleigh, but it's here. What an infinite surprise (h/t coldasgasoline).

[kidsmoke]

3 hours ago, Brian F. said:

I retract all of my whining. The package arrived today. Tracking still shows it in Raleigh, but it's here. What an infinite surprise (h/t coldasgasoline).

 

Same here!

[bcdoc]

22 hours ago, 5hake1t0ff said:

For me, Evicted is the low point, as it sounds too much like his pop-y solo songs but for a few Cate Le Bon-infused sonic flourishes. And I get how Soldier Child can sound of-a-kind with Across the World and White Wooden Cross, but I don't really mind it because I find it to be the most interesting, both melodically and interesting, of the three.

These are but quibbles for me, and I'm still stuck into listening to this album all the way through, at least for now.

I agree with comment on Evicted. Anyone else hear “Raspberry Beret” in it?

 

[lost highway]

I think Soldier Child might be the mix tape song off this one for me. Not the boldest or most innovative of the set but the one that catches most immediately. It should have been the single.

 

I also like how what felt just slightly tepid or retread about "Evicted" melts away on vinyl in the sequence. Like it's most interesting flourishes are magnified by context.

 

It's interesting to watch the critics and fans search for the clearest precedent to this record in their catalog. I disagree with most of those connections. One thread I can find is the closing tracks of Shmilco, "Just Say Goodbye" and "We Aren't the World". Both of those songs struck me as being a new spot on their spectrum. Strummy acoustic but not pastoral-folk, sad but still somehow energized, kind of new wave pop. They both seemed really good and a hint of something potentially great. Neither stuck in the setlists. This album to me mines a similar mood but with greater expertise.

 

Another precedent is Spencer and Jeff's Jandek cover. It's like a Phil Spector production that got unearthed by a 21st century Brian Eno who chopped and screwed a remix, kind of abused the tracks in a cool way. At her best I hear Le Bon doing that behind the curtain here in a more precise and (sorry) icy way.

 

So as not to be Polly Anna I have a couple minor quibbles. Jeff should be forbidden from using the words "cry" and "die" in lyrics every again. They're very blunt instruments and seem to often come accompanied with some rhyming dictionary place holders that are far less iconic than other turns of phrase he can still tantalize with.

 

Last, "Meant to Be" is fun and cool, but it seems so close to being a major closing track/ send off.... and it's a B+ where we want an A. Kind of an old fashioned album format critique but I feel like the band hasn't quite achieved a fully satisfying album closer since "Late Greats". They deftly avoided the issue by having "The Plains" as a whispered coda. Nonetheless the Abba gallop is joyful and if it were in the middle of the sequence I'd have no notes.

[BeneathTheOldSnow]

5 hours ago, lost highway said:

I think Soldier Child might be the mix tape song off this one for me. Not the boldest or most innovative of the set but the one that catches most immediately. It should have been the single.

 

I also like how what felt just slightly tepid or retread about "Evicted" melts away on vinyl in the sequence. Like it's most interesting flourishes are magnified by context.

 

It's interesting to watch the critics and fans search for the clearest precedent to this record in their catalog. I disagree with most of those connections. One thread I can find is the closing tracks of Shmilco, "Just Say Goodbye" and "We Aren't the World". Both of those songs struck me as being a new spot on their spectrum. Strummy acoustic but not pastoral-folk, sad but still somehow energized, kind of new wave pop. They both seemed really good and a hint of something potentially great. Neither stuck in the setlists. This album to me mines a similar mood but with greater expertise.

 

Another precedent is Spencer and Jeff's Jandek cover. It's like a Phil Spector production that got unearthed by a 21st century Brian Eno who chopped and screwed a remix, kind of abused the tracks in a cool way. At her best I hear Le Bon doing that behind the curtain here in a more precise and (sorry) icy way.

 

So as not to be Polly Anna I have a couple minor quibbles. Jeff should be forbidden from using the words "cry" and "die" in lyrics every again. They're very blunt instruments and seem to often come accompanied with some rhyming dictionary place holders that are far less iconic than other turns of phrase he can still tantalize with.

 

Last, "Meant to Be" is fun and cool, but it seems so close to being a major closing track/ send off.... and it's a B+ where we want an A. Kind of an old fashioned album format critique but I feel like the band hasn't quite achieved a fully satisfying album closer since "Late Greats". They deftly avoided the issue by having "The Plains" as a whispered coda. Nonetheless the Abba gallop is joyful and if it were in the middle of the sequence I'd have no notes.

Agreed completely on Meant To Be. I wish Infinite Surprise was the last song, not the first. It works as a thesis statement for the whole album, which so often is about far along in things and reaching a dead end. “I woke up today and went back to bed” from Ten Dead; “You’re lost, and I’m lost” from Sunlight Ends; The broken relationships of “Evicted” and “Bowl and a Pudding.” But, because it’s a Wilco album, it’s equally full of hope in the beauty of the world. The whole point seems to be that even as things end or decay, something new and beautiful is still revealing itself: Your dreams can end, and you can still outlive them. The simplest way to say that is surprise is infinite. 
 

I like it when Wilco builds to their main idea. I actually think they did this really well on TWL: “I’ll always show you my whole love” is a super satisfying concluding thought to that album, made much more meaningful and interesting when followed immediately by One Sunday Morning. I think “Magnetized” is a fantastic closer, too. “I realize we’re magnetized” is a perfectly simple way to tie together so many of their songs about family and home.

[Marijn]

Is it just me, or does “Ten Dead” really sound a lot like Jason Molina/Magnolia Electric Company’s “Song For Willie”?

[Lotti]

6 hours ago, lost highway said:

Abba gallop is joyful

Believe!

[lost highway]

30 minutes ago, BeneathTheOldSnow said:

 

I like it when Wilco builds to their main idea. I actually think they did this really well on TWL: “I’ll always show you my whole love” is a super satisfying concluding thought to that album, made much more meaningful and interesting when followed immediately by One Sunday Morning. I think “Magnetized” is a fantastic closer, too. “I realize we’re magnetized” is a perfectly simple way to tie together so many of their songs about family and home.

 

Oh yeah! WTF was I saying? Those are two of their all time best album closers, I'm ashamed my memory omitted them!

 

So it's really just SBS, Schmilco, WTA, and OTJ with the closers that don't crush it for me (more power to anyone who feels the opposite). That puts them around 50-50 on satisfying closers for me with the current lineup. Not bad, in a baseball sense which is a dumb angle for me to take music from!

[Brian F.]

30 minutes ago, lost highway said:

 

Oh yeah! WTF was I saying? Those are two of their all time best album closers, I'm ashamed my memory omitted them!

 

So it's really just SBS, Schmilco, WTA, and OTJ with the closers that don't crush it for me (more power to anyone who feels the opposite). That puts them around 50-50 on satisfying closers for me with the current lineup. Not bad, in a baseball sense which is a dumb angle for me to take music from!

 

Big fan of "On and On and On" here. When they played it at Port Chester this year, it moved me so much as I thought about the loss of loved ones in 2017 and 2021 that I started sobbing right there on the rail. I was in tears well before the song got to the "go ahead and cry" part.

 

Per Jeff on Starship Casual today, "Ten Dead" is being retired from the live set because it's "despondent and numb and unfeeling," which is pretty much the vibe that led me to say that nine of the ten Cousin tracks grabbed me right away, with the unstated part being that "Ten Dead" was the outlier. Each time I've listened to it, it has put me in mind of "Ohio" because of the subject matter, but completely devoid of the galvanizing quality of the CSNY song.

[5hake1t0ff]

Ten Dead has really captured me. It sounds like if you added 15 years of 21st century American history to the mood of the Sky Blue Sky sessions. I'm okay with it not being played live. I agree with Jeff's point about it being meant for one-on-one song-listener encounters. I'm still a relative newcomer to Molina's catalogue. I loving most of it. Looking forward to checking out "Song for Willie" per Marijn's comment.

[brucebanner]

On 9/30/2023 at 7:42 AM, bcdoc said:

I agree with comment on Evicted. Anyone else hear “Raspberry Beret” in it?

 

I heard the same thing, I keep waiting for Jeff to finish a line with  “but I was a bit too leisurely “ 

[Brian F.]

1 hour ago, brucebanner said:

I heard the same thing, I keep waiting for Jeff to finish a line with  “but I was a bit too leisurely “ 

 

https://jefftweedy.substack.com/p/chit-chat-check-in-71-prince-ted

[Brian F.]

A "First Listen" of Cousin with Jeff providing commentary is airing right now (9 a.m. PDT) on indie88.com. It will reair at 5 p.m. PDT.

[5hake1t0ff]

On 9/30/2023 at 10:09 AM, lost highway said:

Jeff should be forbidden from using the words "cry" and "die" in lyrics every again.

You’re not wrong, Walter ….

[ZiggyBratwurst]

On 8/16/2023 at 1:16 AM, u2roolz said:

Very nice catch! You know I had a hazy memory that he did do Soldier Child twice, but on Monty’s list it’s only listed once as Soldier Child for episode 217.

Just now seeing this. I haven’t been keeping up with my social media lurking lately. My guess is that I have it on the list as some other title, before Jeff announced it (or before we all saw it in the Cousin track listings). When I have some time, I’ll try to sort it out. Thanks for the heads-up. 

[lost highway]

5 hours ago, 5hake1t0ff said:

You’re not wrong, Walter ….

 

"Aw,  sorry dude. Let's go bowling."

[ZiggyBratwurst]

20 hours ago, ZiggyBratwurst said:

Just now seeing this. I haven’t been keeping up with my social media lurking lately. My guess is that I have it on the list as some other title, before Jeff announced it (or before we all saw it in the Cousin track listings). When I have some time, I’ll try to sort it out. Thanks for the heads-up. 

Song List has been fixed. This led me to find a couple other corrections that needed to be made, as well. Please do notify me if/when you find discrepancies.

 

[Brian F.]

I noticed something interesting on the packing slip that came with my Wilcoworld preorder.

 

For the LP, it says:

BATCH PRINT: 119, 

PREORDER: 1000, R03: 881

 

For the CD, it says:

R03: 427

 

I wonder if these numbers are sequential as orders were filled. It's interesting that the LP numbers 119 and 881 add up to 1000, which is also shown. What numbers do other people's slips show? I'm wondering if we can read anything into this about how many preorders there were. It seems plausible to me that they would have ordered a batch of 1,000 LPs to satisfy preorders. And it makes sense to me that this band would have roughly twice as many preorders of the LP (881) as the CD (427), if that's what those numbers mean.

[jff]

13 hours ago, Brian F. said:

It seems plausible to me that they would have ordered a batch of 1,000 LPs to satisfy preorders.

 

Those numbers are interesting.  Considering how difficult and time consuming it is to press a record these days* (see: the massive Cruel Country delay), I doubt any "name" band would do a run of 1000 only to blink and immediately need a full pressing.  I'd be curious to know what their typical sales are on vinyl in the first year of a new release.   

 

*Wilco may have figured out how to beat this problem by...if I'm remembering correctly....partially bankrolling a Chicago pressing plant, which surely lets them jump to the front of the line when they need to press vinyl.   

 

EDIT:  https://www.chicagomag.com/arts-culture/record-plant-smashed-plastic-is-keeping-it-local/

 

Smashed Plastic pressing plant.  Tweedy/Wilco bought them a pressing machine.  Surely this gives them leeway to press as much or as little as they want, any time they want (within reason), making the 1000 run for preorders plausible.  But I'm still skeptical.  Seems if they were going to do this, there would be something different about the preorder version (and maybe there is and I just don't know about it....different color wax? something different about the cover art/inserts/etc.?)

 

According to the article, Wilco typically presses 30,000 records.