Photo by: wagz2it.com

Wilco’s new record, The Whole Love, has elements of greatness but ultimately this album is forgettable.

The opening track, “Art of Almost,” is their most ambitious since “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” off of 2002’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The tune builds from a pulsing drumbeat, swelling from synths into a fuzz-driven guitar solo courtesy of Nels Kline. Wilco’s recent collaboration with Deerhoof seems to have influenced this track.

The album continues with the lead single, “I Might,” in which retro tones and carnival keyboards buoy strong vocal melodies to make the catchiest song on the album.

After a powerful start, The Whole Love becomes murky with indistinct rock throwbacks and cheesy ballads.

“Open Mind” and “Red Rising Lung” share empty lyrics, finger-picked rhythm guitar and ambient slide-guitar. These tracks and others are virtually indistinguishable from one another.

The only relief comes when the track “Standing O”‘ opens with riff wakes that catch the listener off-guard from the monotony.

Songs like “Born Alone” add to the drone, while “Capitol City” offers the first memorable set of lyrics of the album. The song is a pleasant tribute to Wilco’s native city of Chicago, but musically is just as uninspired as most of its companions.

The same tones and motifs are recycled until they lose meaning. “One Sunday Morning” could be a powerful closing ballad if the preceding tracks offered more support. Production flourishes and complete artistic freedom cannot save Wilco’s first album on its own label, the Chicago-based dBpm. The strong melodies and awe-inspiring musicianship that usually make Wilco great are mostly absent from this effort. The Whole Love will not stand the test of time.