‘What Light’ – Wilco, 2007
I’ve only into Wilco these past couple of years based on a friends recommendation and I have to say that I really like these guys. They put in a powerful performance in Vicar Street towards the end of last year and I’ve no doubt they’ll do the same at this years electric picnic festival at the end of this month. The song I’ve chosen today is one of their more basic songs taken from their latest album Sky Blue Sky and was available as a free download to promote the new album in 2007.
The song itself is a straight up soft,country-rock ballad with piano acoustic and slide guitars, which in itself is a departure from the the electronic experimentation that was evident in the previous two studio albums, Dave writes about one of the songs off those albums, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot here. Lyrically the song is of a really upbeat in nature which basically tells you to be yourself, reach out when you need and enjoy life. Again the content of the lyrics are a departure for Wilco who usually sing more about broken relationships , love lost and the like.
I’m unsure whether I would listen to an entire album of songs like this from the band but the song is definitely a welcome departure, temporarily, from songs released previously – even if its only to display their broad range of musical style and taste. Check out the video of the song here
