As American As... "Sky Blue Sky"

Once again, this is a post that’s been in the works for a while now—shortly after “Sky Blue Sky”, the latest effort from indie-rock legends Wilco was released, I received a message from a friend and fellow fan expressing a great deal of disappointment with the album. Looking around at the reviews, she wasn’t alone in her opinion that it was a bland, boring departure from their past two cutting edge works—Pitchfork went so far as to slap it with a measly 5.2 rating and label it “dad-rock”. Having already had the leak of the album for a month or so (naturally), I could certainly understand where she was coming from, as I felt the same dread upon my first listen that this might just be a Wilco album that I wasn’t in love with. However, in time it had grown on me, and though I couldn’t explain why at the time, I promised I would eventually post a thought out defense of “Sky Blue Sky,” and since I can think of few bands more uniquely American these days than Wilco, this loosely constructed theme week seems like a good time to put pen to paper on it.

Let’s start with the basics—yes, “Sky Blue Sky” is slower, mellower, and safer sounding work than the jarring noise rock of “A Ghost Is Born” or the static beeps and bloops of “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”. And yes, this is the first album which Jeff Tweedy composed since his time in rehab for a longtime addiction to prescription painkillers. It’s a different album, no doubt about that. But at the same time, “Sky Blue Sky continues in the tradition of Wilco focusing in on the small dark corners of American life and blowing them up to cinematic proportions: if “Yankee” and “Ghost” were portraits of the disintegration of and intangible frustration with oneself and the surrounding world, “Sky Blue Sky” is what comes afterwards—the slow, placid, melancholic first steps back into the light as we come to terms with ourselves and put things back together again.

From the opening lines of “Either Way”—“maybe the sun will shine today/the clouds will roll away/maybe I won’t be so afraid”—the album takes on a tone of cautious optimism and tranquil acceptance of the future in all its ambiguity (and yes, I will grant Pitchfork’s comment that the Nels Cline guitar solo sounds sadly like something off the Weather Channel, but it somehow works in this song, gliding along in contrast to Tweedy’s longing vocals at the end). Throughout the album in songs like “You Are My Face” and “Shake It Off”, we hear echoed the themes of loss and upheaval, painful indications of that which has changed and the consequences of actions, yet still accompanied by a sense of determination to overcome it and push onward. Finally, in its most optimistic moments, “Sky Blue Sky” works to remind us of what is really most meaningful and important in life—the one-two punch of “Walken” and “What Light”, followed by the achingly gorgeous “On and On and On” (written for Tweedy’s father as they both came to terms with his mother’s impending death last year) serve as a closing tribute to love for oneself and one’s family that may be the most optimistic music Tweedy has ever penned.

So is Sky Blue Sky a “rehab album”? You bet it is. I don’t, however, think there’s too much wrong with that, as it resonates with anyone who’s ever lost their way in the world and had to take a good long look in the mirror before coming back. One could even go so far as to argue that it serves as a reflection of where we are nationally, trying to figure out where to go after seven years of politics and policies that have grown increasingly distant from our core values… but I’ll leave that for someone else to sort out. To me, “Sky Blue Sky” hit home the most when watching the accompanying short documentary and hearing Jeff Tweedy talk about how he wanted to write an album to his wife, who did so much to keep the family together as he struggled. As he proceeds to sit in the family living room in Chicago and sing the simple, quiet solo ballad “Please Be Patient With Me”, its hard not to see the heart and soul of what is yet another brilliant exploration of the personal from Wilco.

Wilco- Please Be Patient With Me