{"id":5491,"date":"2025-09-26T14:27:24","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T14:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/jeff-tweedys-twilight-override-reviewed-wilco-frontmans-triple-album-is-a-gentle-salve-in-stormy-times-151581\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T14:27:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T14:27:24","slug":"jeff-tweedys-twilight-override-reviewed-wilco-frontmans-triple-album-is-a-gentle-salve-in-stormy-times-151581","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/jeff-tweedys-twilight-override-reviewed-wilco-frontmans-triple-album-is-a-gentle-salve-in-stormy-times-151581\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Tweedy\u2019s Twilight Override reviewed: Wilco frontman\u2019s triple album is a gentle salve in stormy times"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It was novelist and critic John Berger who first posited that \u201ccalm is a form of resistance\u201d. Who knows if Jeff Tweedy was channelling that sentiment while creating the gentle behemoth that is Twilight Override, but he has certainly responded to the maelstrom of paranoia and inhumanity unleashed by the second Trump term \u2013 what the Wilco frontman has dubbed \u201ca bottomless basket of rock bottom\u201d \u2013 with a disarming composure, and a big batch of tunes for his fifth solo outing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A 30-song triple album of mostly mellow consolation<\/h2>\n

It was novelist and critic John Berger who first posited that \u201ccalm is a form of resistance\u201d. Who knows if Jeff Tweedy was channelling that sentiment while creating the gentle behemoth that is Twilight Override, but he has certainly responded to the maelstrom of paranoia and inhumanity unleashed by the second Trump term \u2013 what the Wilco frontman has dubbed \u201ca bottomless basket of rock bottom\u201d \u2013 with a disarming composure, and a big batch of tunes for his fifth solo outing.<\/p>\n

Twilight Override <\/em>is a 30-song triple album of mostly mellow consolation, insightfulrather than intimidating. In the studio performance video for \u201cFeel Free\u201d \u2013 one of four tracks released in advance of the album \u2013 there is a glimpse of a sign on the wall of Wilco\u2019s Chicago studio, The Loft, saying \u2018It Could Be Worse\u2019. The song itself is a seven-minute invitation to shut out the white noise and slow down, to lay down anger and concerns, \u201cto fall in love with the people you know and fall harder for the people you don\u2019t\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Tweedy is not in this alone. The album bears his name, but it is an assiduously arranged band record featuring his sons Spencer and Sammy and compadres James Elkington, Sima Cunningham, Macie Stewart and Liam Kazar, written with their capabilities in mind and recorded with the intention of capturing a communal warmth. The soothing backing vocals alone could be marketed as a cure-all balm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to write about all the things I\u2019m still working out\u201d<\/h2>\n

The songs are grouped notionally to represent the past, present and future, though the distinction between each record is a little blurry. It is possible, even recommended, to take in Twilight Override<\/em> in a single seamless sitting. It\u2019s no pleasure cruise but the scenic rewards are there, from peaceful vistas to invigorating stormy weather and back to calmer waters.<\/p>\n

Opening track \u201cOne Tiny Flower\u201d takes one such mini-outing, into the joys of urban rambling, which many pursued during the pandemic. The mesmeric acoustic arrangement gradually takes a more torrid turn, as the natural world order fragments and more dissonant notes are sounded. The pacey yet plaintive \u201cCaught Up In The Past\u201d also has the air of a cautionary Covid reflection, with Tweedy making poetic observations from the sidelines over a cantering rhythm. He breaks into shrewd spoken word on thrift shop symphony \u201cParking Lot\u201d, concluding with quiet desperation, \u201cI\u2019d like to teach the world to sing\u2026fuck\u2026anything\u201d.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

Lovers of a Wilco blowout better dine out quickly on the grungey guitar wrangling and rag-tag chorale of \u201cForever Never Ends\u201d, because most of the songs on the first record are studies in restraint, be it the beautiful desolation of \u201cLove Is For Love\u201d or the languorous Laurel Canyon vibes of \u201cBetrayed\u201d. This first set ends with \u201cThrowaway Lines\u201d, a pitch-perfect troubadour confessional in which Tweedy wrestles with the art of the lyric, worried he\u2019ll give too much away (\u201cI don\u2019t want to write about all the things I\u2019m still working out<\/em>\u201d) while knowing that deeper resonance is surely the songwriter\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n

As if taking his own counsel, the second record is more about gentle modulation of mood than individually spectacular songs, though the easy propulsive rhythm of \u201cOut In The Dark\u201d and pocket guitar oratorio at the heart of \u201cNew Orleans\u201d make their mark before Tweedy and band pitch into some cultural specifics.<\/p>\n

A reassuringly empathetic tap on the shoulder<\/h2>\n

Kicking off the third LP, \u201cLou Reed Was My Babysitter\u201d is inspired by the great man\u2019s louche rock\u2019n\u2019roll, while \u201cAmar Bharati\u201d is a whimsical tribute to the Hindu sadhu who has kept his right arm raised for peace for over 50 years. \u201cStray Cats In Spain\u201d is exactly what you might hope for, a snapshot of the rockabilly favourites in Iberia, one among a handful of pleasures set to a two-chord scratchy strum. \u201cAin\u2019t It A Shame\u201d is a deliberately creaky meditation on the past, present and future, lamenting lost youthful optimism with a sage cynicism. Tweedy sounds close to breaking on \u201cThis Is How It Ends\u201d, but there is warmth amidst the fragility. In contrast, the title track is a feast of buoyant picking, enhanced with the muffled patter of drums and sighing strings.<\/p>\n

Tweedy and band maintain a bittersweet equilibrium across these later stages of the journey, before the burnished indie blues parting shot of \u201cEnough\u201d, replete with musical and lyrical nods to \u201cWaterloo Sunset\u201d and \u201cLike A Rolling Stone\u201d. Like the rest of the collection, it is a reassuringly empathetic tap on the shoulder for those in need of succour and a steer.<\/p>\n

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