Wilco – “Cousin”

Peter Crosby

Wilco – “Cousin”

Peter Crosby

Wilco’s new Cate Le Bon-produced album Cousin allegedly has nothing to do with The Bear, the acclaimed FX series that uses Wilco needle drops to remind people it’s set in Chicago almost as often as two of the main characters refer to each other as “cousin.” Today we hear the title track, the second single following “Evicted.”

“Cousin” is sort of a post-punk take on folk-rock, with a lot of jagged rhythms herking and jerking under Jeff Tweedy’s gravelly, high-pitched narration, leading into an extremely pretty chorus where a cloud of guitars descends upon the skeletal mix. The music mirrors Tweedy’s lyrics about de-escalating a fight with a relative by grabbing them and hugging it out, sort of like Jacob and God.

Listen below.

Cousin is out 9/29 on dBpm.

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