Wilco’s recently released “Sky Blue Sky” is another solid effort that will surely be appreciated by fans of their previous work. The most significant difference between this and Wilco’s best known previous albums, 2002’s “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot,” and 2004’s “A Ghost Is Born,” is that the prevalent “sonic experimentation” is much more subdued here.
These previous albums were full of almost amelodic guitar solos as in “I’m the Man Who Loves You,” and the infusion of strange synthesized sounds with standard instrumentation as in “War on War.” While “Sky Blue Sky” does retain this spontaneous and experimental spirit, it is a more subdued and straightforward album. Songs do still break into long winding guitar solos in several times including one very reminiscent of earlier work in “Impossible Germany.” This album also reflects the band’s efforts to always incorporate songs of many different tones and sounds in the album. Songs range from the upbeat though almost bluesy “Walken,” to the dire “On and On and On.”
Though the band does employ many different sounds on this album, they seem less an outright emulation than the product of these sounds through the prism of Wilco. The band certainly lends its own style to each of the genres it samples on this album and therefore creates a cohesive work out of what could have easily become a disjointed collection of various musical styles. Wilco succeeds in placing rock, folk, and blues inspired works side by side without sacrificing the unity of the record. The lyrics on this record also seem more direct but remain similarly inscrutable.
Lyrics of Wilco songs have been notoriously difficult to interpret. One critic claimed that “Ashes of American Flags” was the band’s response to the September 11th attacks only to find that the song had been completed and recorded in July of 2001. A majority of the songs seem to revolve around the ways the persona of each song deals with loneliness. In “Hate It Here,” the speaker says: “I try to stay busy/I do the dishes/I mow the lawn/I try to keep myself occupied/Even though I know you’re not coming home.” Instead of keeping himself occupied with trivial tasks the persona of “Sky Blue Sky” throws himself into a contrived social life, though he inwardly regrets the loss of his ideal life saying: “With a sky blue sky/This rotten time/wouldn’t seem so bad to me now/Oh, I didn’t die/That should be good enough for me now.” Many of the other songs on the album describe methods of how to confront loneliness but others clearly have nothing to do with this theme. “What Light” is as encouragement of artistic integrity. In this song Jeff Tweedy, Wilco’s lyricist sings: “If you’re trying to paint a picture/But aren’t sure what colors belong/Just paint what you see.” He goes on in the song to caution that “If the whole world’s singing your songs/And all your paintings have been hung/Just remember what was yours is everyone’s from now on.
While this and other songs depart from the overarching theme of the album, “Sky Blue Sky” represents one of Wilco’s most conceptually unified projects to date. This record is different enough from older work to provide something new for existing fans, but has subdued the band’s experimental tone and synthesized musings enough to make this album more accessible to the mainstream.