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"on their second full length release, the group stick to a fairly
straight-ahead style of classic American roots rock, mixing harmonising
electric guitars, plucked acoustics, piano, vibes, organ, cowbells and
whistles, marked by a relaxed looseness not latterly associated with
any one of its members." |
Loose Fur
 
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| Born Again In The USA |
By: Dimitri Kalagas |
Bucking a longstanding musical side project tradition of artists bringing the experimentation free from the worry of alienating legions of adventurous-but-not-that-adventurous fans, Loose Fur – a collaboration between Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Glenn Kotche and producer, scenester and songwriter extraordinaire Jim O’Rourke – actually take a step back from the occasional avant-garde tendencies of its members’ day jobs. Instead, on their second full length release, the group stick to a fairly straight-ahead style of classic American roots rock, mixing harmonising electric guitars, plucked acoustics, piano, vibes, organ, cowbells and whistles, marked by a relaxed looseness not latterly associated with any one of its members. The most obvious exception being the sprawling ‘Wreckroom’, which moves from its understated opening to some clean soloing seemingly plucked from the closing credits to an 80s sitcom, intermittent frantic guitar freakouts and a final third of drifting, atmospheric ambience. Ultimately though, it’s hard to see what Born Again in the USA brings to the table – beyond some evangelist-baiting lyrical barbs – over Wilco’s last couple of (stellar) LPs, which mine a similar sound with more flair, and were touched by the production talents of O’Rourke to boot.
Alexis Kalagas
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