Wilco
Cousin

If there are any bands that can call themselves "indie" in the pure sense of the word (independent), one of these is certainly Wilco. They have their own recording studio, manage their own record label, and are extraordinarily involved in both concert ticket sales and merchandising, not to mention that they handle a large part of the interactions with their fans. All this starting from 2007, around the times of Sky Blue Sky.

Born in the mid-90s from an idea by Jeff Tweedy, directly from the ashes of Uncle Tupelo (Tweedy’s former band), one of the reference bands of the alt-country scene; today, Wilco is one of the indie rock certainties on which the US scene can rely. A unique case (or nearly so): loved equally by audience and critics, if that's not a record!

"Cousin" is the 13th album of the band from Chicago. The fifth album since 2015 (when "Star Wars" was released), an eight-year period during which Tweedy also released four solo albums and three books. Just to give a sense of this artist's prolific nature.
And yet, in their 30th year of activity, Wilco appear in their most politically exposed version, with uncommon committed tracks like "Ten Dead" in which Jeff Tweedy deplores the normalization of mass killings: "Turn on the radio, that’s what they say/ No more, no more, no more than ten dead."

Despite their proverbial predisposition to being independent, which I wrote about above, "Cousin" represents a turning point for the band. In "Cousin", the group ceded part of the control over the recording process to pop experimentalist Cate Le Bon, who oversaw the production and sat at the keyboards on several tracks, creating a collaboration that benefits all parties involved. Le Bon added a sense of precariousness and risk but without ever compromising the band's vision, instead enhancing and reclaiming Wilco’s musical soul.

What has this entailed? Fortunately, only good news: "Cousin" closely recalls the unforgettable "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" of 2002 or the subsequent "A Ghost Is Born": robust and elegant melodies, clouds of noise light as whipped cream, touching the apex of US alt. country and indie folk; with a central interlude that unfolds into a pleasant twilight and autumnal hue with "Levee" and "Evicted".
Warning: let’s remember that at the time of the aforementioned albums, there was a certain Jim O’Rourke in the control room.

May the god of indie rock keep Jeff Tweedy & Co. with us for a long time to come.