I’ve been listening to Wilco’s Summer Teeth all morning – three times through so far, and I appreciate the CD better with each listening. Melodically, the album pulls away from Wilco’s alt-country roots, gravitating towards a Beach Boys-esque thickly orchestrated pop sound. Tweedy’s surprisingly bleak lyrics ride on top, beautiful in their subtlety – witness the ballad “She’s A Jar,” which begins as a tender love song (“She begs me not to miss her”) and slowly degenerates (“She begs me not to hit her”).

Wilco’s newest album, the self-released Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, is set to hit shelves in a little less than a month. Supposedly picking up where Summer Teeth leaves off, the album is already receiving wide-ranging acclaim in pre-release reviews. *Sigh* It appears Amazon will be siphoning off yet one more chunk of my disposable income.