Wilco
A Ghost Is Born

THE REVIEW

Warning: lagna-rock.

Something has changed. Do not believe those who will tell you that this album is the twin of "Yankee...". The voice is different...
It comes out on June 22 because Jeff Tweedy was in a clinic to detox from psychiatric drugs (the "handshake drugs," as he calls them), after unsuccessfully trying to do it on his own with unpleasant mishaps.
And do not think it is a depressing record; thank you, drugs! Listening to him sing, he seems more detached than suffering, a ghost in a limbo, opening his dreamy eye, his nostalgic and pure gaze on the world. Candor and detachment.

I will never be able to properly describe the first track... a soft voice and a piano, then a break and the start of a long, beautiful distorted guitar phrase (sounds by O'Rourke), piercing like the best Neil Young, and a piano that cries; it seems like a "Stairway To Heaven" of weak rock, "introverted." I say it quietly: immortal.

Here and there you will hear, besides Young, Lennon, a bit of glam and much more, but above all you will sense Tweedy's delicate feeling, songs that seem to emerge from a white mist and barely maintain their balance.
This is how it is for "Hell Is Chrome," which talks about the descent into a different hell from any hypothesis, a place where they care for you, and you feel quite good; then "Spiders," "Muzzle of Bees," "Wishful Thinking," and "Less Than You Think," all almost on the verge of fading and only occasionally grounding themselves well.
Most of the time, it floats in the air. Only in a few instances does Tweedy seem to descend among us mortals again (e.g., the semi-punk "I'm a Wheel" and "Theologians" - watch out, it's beautiful).

But, excuse me, I also wrote this review mainly to vent... Sometimes, I cannot stand it! I "learned" to smoke listening to his songs. I look at a photo of him with a cigarette in his mouth and it seems like I'm seeing myself... Then I think: but no... he's an idiot! What the hell are you trying to get out of it on your own! Who knows what dose they gave him... And then, those songs where he tried to be cheerful, but instead was depressed and depressed me...
Now I like him more! If he has to be badass ("I'm a Wheel"), he does it without sugar; and I like his detachment! But sometimes, I really cannot stand his lyrics! Too real (it's like the last Drake in "Pink Moon," less clear but more evocative and touching images). And so I try to ignore them and focus on the music and the sound of the voice, on its soul, luminous...
You have a beautiful soul, Jeff! And perhaps it is this beauty that gives meaning to everything, this beauty that someone, maybe, believes is the good and paternal god... I do not know if it is good, nor do I have the strength to believe, but I pray that this beauty saves you, whatever that means.
Beauty at our side, and may our hearts not be afraid of it.
"Alright Tweedy, we understand that he is good, now go back to your place, because you're a pain..."