Alternative rock and country band Wilco will release their new album Cruel Country on May 27, 2022. The lead single “Falling Apart (Right Now)” is available to stream after its April 28, 2022 debut. Cruel Country is mostly made up of live takes, a technique Wilco has used before in their 2007 album Sky Blue Sky. The new album will be the band’s 12th album following a three-year-long gap since releasing Ode to Joy in July of 2019.
The album will feature 21 songs, one of which is already available to stream. Audiences can hear a whisper of the album to come in the sonically fun release. The more serious lyrics are juxtaposed against the tone and create a particularly interesting experience. At the start of the song, Wilco and vocalist Jeff Tweedy get straight to the point: “Now don’t you fall apart/While I’m falling apart/Why don’t you get in line/Behind the tears I’m crying/…But you’re gonna have to learn/Learn when it isn’t your turn.” The song discusses how difficult it is to be forever accompanied in breaking down rather than being supported.
The video shows Wilco in the studio at the Loft in Chicago, sometimes while performing the piece and other times simply being in the studio. It’s an intimate view of what went into the creation of the song and is nostalgic in nature, from the unabashed country song to the black-and-white footage.
Listen to the new song here:
The forthcoming album is Wilco’s first since fully accepting their identity as a band that produces country music. “We’ve never been particularly comfortable with accepting that definition, the idea that I was making country music. But now, having been around the block a few times, we’re finding it exhilarating to free ourselves within the form, and embrace the simple limitation of calling the music we’re making country,” vocalist and guitarist (among other credits) Tweedy explained.
On the day they release their album, Wilco will hold a celebratory performance at Solid Sound, their festival which will be held from May 27 to 29, 2022. The festival promises “live falconry, star gazing workshops, and axe throwing, Solid Sound aims to delight the curious.”
Cruel Country Tracklist
01 I Am My Mother
02 Cruel Country
03 Hints
04 Ambulance
05 The Empty Condor
06 Tonight’s the Day
07 All Across the World
08 Darkness Is Cheap
09 Bird Without a Tail / Base of My Skull
10 Tired of Taking It Out on You
11 The Universe
12 Many Worlds
13 Hearts Hard to Find
14 Falling Apart (Right Now)
15 Please Be Wrong
16 Story to Tell
17 A Lifetime to Find
18 Country Song Upside-Down
19 Mystery Binds
20 Sad Kind of Way
21 The Plains
Photo Credit: Alyssa Fried
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