I’m not sure whether I want to fly-tip any more words onto the festering pile of articles which will have been written about Wilco.  The internet is getting pretty full now, and the backwash is causing people to come home from work to find track-by-track appraisals of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot lapping around their ankles.

I’ll keep it brief then.  The addition of the great jazz guitarist Nels Cline (I am by no means tired yet of his Andrew Hill tribute album from last year) and multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansome to a line-up already featuring the inventive drummer Glenn Kotche has meant that Sky Blue Sky has a real sense of organic group chemistry, supplemented by some terrific instrumental work.  It takes until halfway through second track “You Are My Face” for the album to catch light with Cline/Tweedy Crazy Horse guitar interplay, and the chiming guitars of “Impossible Germany” bring to mind more introspective Moore/Ranaldo moments.  “Side With The Seeds” features Cline using weird improv voodoo to summon the spirit of the great Sonny Sharrock and persuade him to set fire to my stereo.  All of this throws the delicate likes of “Please Be Patient With Me” and “Leave Me Like You Found Me” into the sweetest of reliefs.

The fact that this is not to be their Ascension, Trout Mask Replica or Goodbye 20th Century will probably disappoint some – I must confess I was hoping they would get a bit more “out” more often.  It’s still a fine record to add to the run of fine records that are resulting from Jeff Tweedy’s ceaseless search to capture that sound in his head .

Listen to “Side With The Seeds” here.