While we all endure this endless pandemic lockdown, artists have found themselves with time on their hands. Many have been finding new ways to perform to audiences, online or even in drive-ins. There’s been releases of old material, b-sides, concert recordings, etc. Others have been making ‘quarantine records’, either solo or long distance. Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy already put out two solo albums last year, Warm (QRO review) and Record Store Day release Warmer, but now he’s added yet more in the sweet Love Is the King.
Like Tweedy’s prior solo output, Love is an intimate, even family affair (his kids have backed him up on TV performances in 2020), that trades in Wilco’s big alt-country for Tweedy charm. This can work very well, as anyone who’s been to a Wilco show would attest (QRO live review), on such tracks as “Gwendolyn”, the wry “Natural Disaster”, and “Guess Again” (QRO review). He can also showcase his sad side like with the titular opener (QRO review) and the following “Opaline”.
Admittedly, not all the songs stand out that way, some more just nice little ditties, and a whole record of it all does get a little similar. But in the year of our isolation, it’s always nice to cuddle up with a good Tweedy.
