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(2020) Jeff Tweedy - Love Is the King
Review:
Jeff Tweedy’s rustic and introspective blend of Americana has struck a chord in alternative music fans for decades. Whilst never re-inventing the wheel, Wilco have carved out their own unique path. They’ve managed to constantly re-invent themselves sonically. Walking the line between being the coolest band in Dad Rock and co-existing on the fringes of the American indie scene. After a career spanning over 25 years, Wilco have garnered their fair share of talking points amongst fans; Jeff’s rocky relationship with bandmate Jay Bennett, the classic string of records that Jay played a part in, (Being There, Summerteeth, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot), not to mention how this earlier line-up fares against Wilco’s current incarnation featuring guitar player extraordinaire Nels Cline. One such legend amongst fans is Jeff’s hometown Chicago recording studio; The Loft. The studio that had been built by the band prior to the recording sessions of Wilco’s 2001 masterpiece Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and is well documented in Sam Jones’ 2002 documentary film ‘I Am Going to Break Your Heart’. Since its creation, The Loft has served as the creative mecca of Wilco as well as the birthplace of Tweedy’s solo endeavours; his 2014 album Sukierae a collaboration with his son Spencer Tweedy as well as follow-up albums WARM and WARMER. Thus it comes as no surprise that in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and live performances being on hold, Tweedy’s gut instinct was to hunker down at The Loft, his inspiring and comforting hive of creativity, to begin work on what would become his most recent release Love Is The King. Love Is The King is a collection of eleven songs that whilst may at first feel familiar to fans of Jeff, strike me as far more subdued and stark than his previous work. The instrumentation is stripped back to the bare necessities across the album leaving Tweedy’s lyrics and tender vocal at the forefront of the record. Songs such as ‘Opaline’ are delivered with beautiful country-tinged guitar twang and brushed drums, almost in an effort to disguise the dark tone of Jeff’s words; “Opaline make believe that you still love me, it’s hard to see reality when you’ve got no love at all”. Other moments on the record such as ‘A Robin Or A Wren’ see Tweedy rally against his fears of dying and isolation, showcasing lyrics that effortlessly marry up with the odd state of affairs the world is currently in, perhaps a point of influence for Jeff; “At the end of the end, of this beautiful dream, I’ll wake up again, A robin or a wren.” Though much of the record is wrapped up in a woeful dawdle, things do pick up steam with the album’s standout track and single, ‘Guess Again’. It’s here that Tweedy’s signature songwriting is on display in full force, modest and understated yet managing to craft captivating hooks that cast a spell over you. The closing track ‘Half Asleep’ is also head and shoulders above much of the album, a powerful epic with swathes of atmospheric guitar lines.
Tracklist:
01. Love Is The King
02. Opaline
03. A Robin or A Wren
04. Gwendolyn
05. Bad Day Lately
06. Even I Can See
07. Natural Disaster
08. Save It For Me
09. Guess Again
10. Troubled
11. Half-Asleep
Media Report:
Genre: alt-country, indie-folk
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits |
