This is the Wilco album I’ve been waiting for. This is the one where they take everything they do well, through every phase of their career, mix it all up, improve on it and then create something new with it. Yes, this is that one. There are moments of the past but the momentum is pushing in a new direction. This is damn near the perfect Wilco album.
The Whole Love contains two of the most beautiful bookends ever. Opener “Art of Almost” is worth the price of admission alone. The opening looped drum beats suggest Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but in a feat worthy of Neil Young’s Broken Arrow, a minute later the memories of the past turn inside out and morph something entirely new. The early beats become an organic, krautrock, fuzz-drenched vehicle to take you through numerous ebbs, flows and crescendos within the song. By the time the seven-minute mark rolls around, you will be convinced your stereo is going to explode. Thankfully it likely won’t.
Similarly, the album’s closer, “One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend),” builds on Wilco’s past to create something entirely original. The song begins confessional with “this is how I tell it,” only it’s not the words Jeff Tweedy sings that tell his loneliness and pain. Rather the cadence and sparseness of his voice and the thoughtful arrangement and punctuating flourishes by the band tell the real story, one of understated hopefulness.
The songs in between are equally as impressive. “Sunloathe” is piano driven ballad with enough counter-melodies to render it eight different songs entirely. “Dawn on Me” bounces and pounces its way instantly to your heart — one of those songs made to listen to as you drive into the sunset. “Standing O” in some amazing way is equal parts Clash, Gang of Four and Beach Boys. The Whole Love may not find Wilco any new fans, but 17 years into their career I suspect they aren’t looking for any. Wilco fans will be sure to love this album and will most likely leave it on repeat for weeks upon first listen, discovering something new in every song on each listen.
The truth is, what makes this the perfect Wilco album is that every song works together in pushing boundaries and entering new sonic territory; precisely what Wilco fans love about the band.
— Ivan Henwood