Today, Wilco present the title track off their new album, Cousin, out September 29 on dBpm Records. Carrying itself with a post-punk swagger, “Cousin” is musically and lyrically a fight with a relative.
Rather, a refusal to fight: the narrator holds their familial opponent in a de-escalatory bear hug, while admitting, “My cousin / I’m you.” Following lead single “Evicted,” “Cousin” says we owe it to each other to fight, as long as we remember our own culpability and our sameness, our relation.
Frontman Jeff Tweedy expresses anger while grievances are laid on the line: “When your red lines / Get crossed with mine / I object to you / Our deal’s un-struck,” all while recognizing that we hate in others what we hate in ourselves.
“I’m cousin to the world,’ Tweedy confesses. “I don’t feel like I’m a blood relation, but maybe I’m a cousin by marriage. It’s this feeling of being in it and out of it at the same time.” Cousin is Wilco’s most emotional, worthwhile expression of the pain of trying to be connected to other people when we fall short so often; the joy of catching understanding in someone else’s eye, however fleeting; and the immutable truth that all of us are related, whether we honor or dishonor or forget or remember.”
Later this month, Wilco will embark on a North American tour, including a newly announced second show at the Bellwether in Los Angeles, three nights at the historic Ace Hotel, two nights in Seattle, stops in Dallas, Denver, St. Louis and more.
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