WILCO (THE ALBUM) (180GM VINYL INCL. CD)

Vinyl LP with CD. While many suspected this self-titled album to be seen as some sort of reintroduction for the band-perhaps a return to the experimentalism of "Yankee Foxtrot Hotel"-the album actually seems like a direct successor of the more traditional-sounding 2007 "Sky Blue Sky." "Wilco (The Album)" seems to come with a parenthetical aside, a reminder that the band is not really turning back to their original roots, but that they're just lightening up instead (the cover is, after all, that of a camel birthday party). Here, they pack on everything they've picked up while they've been away: there's heavy '60s and '70s pop influences, with songs that sound like singles: "Sunny Feeling" and "You Never Know." There's tons of acoustics, tinkling keyboards, varying harmonies, and detailed melodies, bringing bands to mind such as Love, Wings and Badfinger. Ultimately, while the album seems less ambitious than it's predecessors, it establishes it's importance in the zeitgeist by being all about the confidence-the confidence of a band that knows itself and it's strengths, and is comfortable with them.