Wilco Release Title Track off New Album, ‘Cousin,’ Out September 29 on dBpm Records
Watch “Cousin” Lyric Video
HERE
North American Tour Runs September 26 — October 27
“As Jeff Tweedy sings about desolation, loss and obstinate hope, the music carries roots-rock into disorienting and illuminating territories but still sounds handmade.” — New York Times
“Cousin shines with instrumental influence from [Cate] Le Bon’s glimmering, electric vault” — Paste
“Cousin is the mangled art-rock record they’ve been talking up for a while. This is the return of the experimental, noisy, future-facing Wilco. . . [Cate] Le Bon is the perfect producer to help them with this.”
– Uncut [9/10]
(Cousin Cover Artwork; Flower Art by Azuma Makoto)
Today, Wilco present the title track off their new album, Cousin, out September 29th on dBpm Records. Carrying itself with a post-punk swagger, “Cousin” is, musically and lyrically, a fight with a relative. Rather, a refusal to fight: the narrator holds their familial opponent in a de-escalatory bear hug, while admitting, “My cousin / I’m you.” Following lead single “Evicted,” “Cousin” says we owe it to each other to fight, as long as we remember our own culpability and our sameness, our relation. Frontman Jeff Tweedy expresses anger while grievances are laid on the line (“When your red lines / Get crossed with mine / I object to you / Our deal’s un-struck”), all while recognizing that we hate in others what we hate in ourselves.
Later this month, Wilco will embark on a North American tour, including three nights at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles, two nights in Seattle, plus stops in Dallas, Denver, St. Louis and more. In December, the band will return to Mexico for the Wilco-curated Sky Blue Sky festival. And today they announce their return to Australia and Japan. A full list of currently-announced Wilco tour dates are below, and tickets are on sale now here.
Watch Lyric Video for Wilco’s “Cousin”
HERE
Produced by the singular Welsh artist Cate Le Bon, Cousin marks the first time Wilco have handed the reins over to a producer outside their immediate circle of collaborators since 2007’s Sky Blue Sky. “The amazing thing about Wilco is they can be anything,” Le Bon says. “They’re so mercurial, and there’s this thread of authenticity that flows through everything they do, whatever the genre, whatever the feel of the record. There aren’t many bands who are able to, this deep into a successful career, successfully change things up.” With Le Bon’s direction, the album evolved into something icier and more nighttime-ish than anything Wilco had created before.
“I’m cousin to the world,” Tweedy confesses. “I don’t feel like I’m a blood relation, but maybe I’m a cousin by marriage. It’s this feeling of being in it and out of it at the same time.” Cousin is Wilco’s most emotional, worthwhile expression of the pain of trying to be connected to other people when we fall short so often; the joy of catching understanding in someone else’s eye, however fleeting; and the immutable truth that all of us are related, whether we honor or dishonor or forget or remember.
In addition to the new Wilco album, Jeff Tweedy’s new book, WORLD WITHIN A SONG: Music That Changed My Life and Life That Changed My Music, publishes November 7th via Penguin Random House’s Dutton, and is available for pre-order here. Tweedy’s book tour runs November 5th-13th.
Watch the “Evicted” Lyric Video
Wilco Tour Dates:
Tue. Sep. 26 – Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom *
Thu. Sep. 28 – Dallas, TX @ South Side Ballroom *
Fri. Sep. 29 – Austin, TX @ Moody Amphitheater @ Waterloo Park *
Sun. Oct. 1 – Albuquerque, NM @ Kiva Auditorium *
Tue. Oct. 3 – Scottsdale, AZ @ Scottsdale Civic Center East Bowl Stage *
Wed. Oct. 4 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Theatre at Ace Hotel *
Thu. Oct. 5 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Theatre at Ace Hotel *
Fri. Oct. 6 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Theatre at Ace Hotel *
Sun. Oct. 8 – Monterey, CA @ Rebels & Renegades Festival
Wed. Oct. 11 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Bellwether *
Fri. Oct. 13 – Santa Barbara, CA @ Arlington Theatre *
Sat. Oct. 14 – Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theatre ^
Mon. Oct. 16 – Portland, OR @ Keller Auditorium *
Tue. Oct. 17 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre ^
Wed. Oct. 18 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre ^
Fri. Oct. 20 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Eccles Theater ^
Sun. Oct. 22 – Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom ^
Mon. Oct. 23 – Omaha, NE @ The Astro Theater ^
Wed. Oct. 25 – Kansas City, MO @ Midland Theatre ^
Thu. Oct. 26 – St. Louis, MO @ Stifel Theatre ^
Fri. Oct. 27 – Bentonville, AR @ The Momentary ^
Sat. Dec. 2 – Wed. Dec. 6 – Riviera Maya, MX @ Sky Blue Sky (Hard Rock Hotel)
Thu. March 7, 2024 – Tokyo, JP @ Zepp Haneda
Fri. March 8, 2024 – Osaka, JP @ Hatch
Wed. March 13, 2024 – Brisbane, AU @ Princess Theatre
Fri. March 15, 2024 – Canberra, AU @ Canberra Theatre
Thu. March 21, 2024 – Sydney, AU @ Opera House
* w/ My Brightest Diamond ^ w/ Nina Nastasia