Loose Fur >> members of Wilco / Sonic Youth

[M]

Check out this review a friend of mine wrote about the new album / collaberation from members of Wilco and Sonic Youth. In his own words "A love letter to Loose Fur".

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Loose Fur - (Drag City)

While not quite as menacing as their name would suggest ("Loos-e Fur" - get it?), this release by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy and Glen Kotche with Jim O'Rourke may sound like a Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Part 2, but it is a little more than that. While O'Rourke applied his stamp on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, here his contribution marks a more distinct amalgamation of Tweedy's newfound ethereal style and O'Rourke's orchestral pop tendencies.

The reason for this isn't all that hard to account for, as former Wilco member Jay Bennet had much to do with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot's sound. With O'Rourke as a full musical collaborator, he brings much of his own style to Loose Fur. Think Yankee Hotel Foxtrot mixed with O'Rourke's wonderful Eureka and you get the idea.

The six pieces that make up Loose Fur (long songs, folks) allow the trio to fulfill both their experimental sides as well as their natural melodic instincts. Indeed, most every track here could be rearranged to fit more solidly in Eureka, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and even Summerteeth in a few cases.

The common denominator between Tweedy and O'Rourke is a profound appreciation for subtlety (interesting in the case of O'Rourke when you consider that he's now a member of Sonic Youth - who are about as subtle as a flying hammer). Kotche's contribution has much to do with taking this subtlety and building highs and lows around it. "Chinese Apple" is a case in point. Delicate acoustic guitars and piano start things off here and almost threaten to become overlong only to have Kotche's cymbal crashes raise the threshold. These instances are many, and they never jar the listener into thinking that they've actually moved onto the next tune.

This is also true of "So Long", where Tweedy's disjointed and random guitar noise behind the vocal couple with Kotche's junkyard sounds in a way that'll have you scratching your head at first. When Kotche starts playing a steadier rhythm and Tweedy starts playing within the melody, you end up with (of all things) an actual tune. It all starts making sense. "Laminated Cats" works in the reverse, beginning with a delicate melodic structure and saving the sonic chaos for the end - a more traditional approach. O'Rourke's keyboards and effects stand out in particular here.

"Elegant Transaction" takes on an almost experimental-folk sound, thanks to Kotche's vibes and the use of banjo with the delicate acoustic guitar here. Closer in style to O'Rourke's work, it also feature a solid vocal from him. At three and a half minutes, "You Were Wrong" comes the closest to a more familiar song structure here, before the trio launches into the instrumental "Liquidation Totale". The most noteworthy thing here is that you'll be reacquainted with the fact that Tweedy was a bassist at one time (remember that?). "Liquidation Totale" is also an obvious example of just how suited the trio would be for soundtrack work.

How useful is having something like Loose Fur? Well, it offers more than just allowing the participants to experiment outside of their normal scope. While Tweedy, Kotche, and O'Rourke can't help but bring their own well-honed talents to the table, they make use of each other's strengths in a way that may come close, but never quite touches, their previous efforts.

So, no, you're not getting a half-realized Wilco CD or a new chapter in O'Rourke's own solo repertoire. Instead, Loose Fur celebrates music that can only come from the trio's dedicated collaboration with each other. A worthy addition to their body of work, as well as to most CD collections.

(* * * * out of 5)

Claudio Sossi

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