Wilco: Jim O'Rourke, Pat Sansone (acoustic guitar); Jeff Tweedy (acoustic 12-string guitar); Nels Cline (electric 12-string guitar); Karen Waltuch (viola); Mikael Jorgensen (Hammond b-3 organ); John Stirratt (8-string bass); Glenn Kotche (drums).

While Wilco's fifth studio album, A GHOST IS BORN, didn't come equipped with quite the same artsy, experimental flourishes as the album's infamous predecessor, YANKEE HOTEL FOXTROT, it made officially clear that the band's days in the world of alt-country had long since passed. SKY BLUE SKY (2007) finds the band not so much in a holding pattern, but rather a state of artistic contentment. The album moves one step further away from Jim O'Rourke's atmospheric production style, and finds a pleasant mid-tempo groove that reminds one of PRETZEL LOGIC-era Steely Dan, mid-period Dylan, and even certain elements of John Lennon's solo work.

Of course this is still Jeff Tweedy's band, which means SKY BLUE SKY never strays too far from what has emerged as a basic Wilco template. The constantly shifting Chicago ensemble (in its umpteenth incarnation by the album's release) still displays an instrumental precision and studio professionalism while working within a newfangled roots template, and Tweedy himself remains as searching as always, both lyrically and musically. With nary a rave-up in sight, the album could be criticized for being overly serene, but in a career marked by nearly constant tumult and controversy, it's more appropriate to see this as Jeff Tweedy's much needed and well-earned rest.

In 1999, Wilco willingly abdicated their position as one of the leading acts in the alt-country movement to dive head-first into the challenging waters of experimental pop with their album Summerteeth, and moved even further away from their rootsy origins with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born, winning the group a new and enthusiastic audience along the way. So it might amuse a number of the band's earlier fans that in many respects Wilco's sixth studio album, Sky Blue Sky, sounds like the long-awaited follow-up to 1996's Being There -- while it lacks the ramshackle shape-shifting and broad twang of that earlier album, Sky Blue Sky represents a shift back to an organic sound and approach that suggests the influence of Neil Young's Harvest and the more polished avenues of '70s soft rock. Sky Blue Sky also marks Wilco's first studio recordings since Nels Cline and Pat Sansone joined the group, and they certainly make their presence felt -- with Cline, Wilco has its strongest guitarist to date, and while his interplay with Sansone on numbers like "Impossible Germany" and "Walken" lacks the skronky muscle of his more avant-garde work of the past, it's never less than inspired and he works real wonders with Jeff Tweedy's lovely melodies. Sansone's keyboard work also shines, adding soulful accents to "Side with the Seeds" and Mellotron on "Leave Me (Like You Found Me)," as does Mikael Jorgensen's piano and organ, and overall this is Wilco's strongest album as an ensemble to date. Tweedy's vocals boast a clarity and nuance that reveals he's grown in confidence and skill as a singer, and the songs recall Summerteeth's beautiful but unsettling mix of lovely tunes and lyrics that focus on troubled souls and crumbling relationships. Between the pensive "Be Patient with Me," the lovelorn "Hate It Here," and "On and On and On"'s pledge that "we'll stay together" squared off against the resignation of "Please don't cry/We're designed to die," Sky Blue Sky isn't afraid to go to the dark places, but Tweedy and his bandmates also find plenty of beauty, inspiration, and real joy along the way, and the album's open, natural sound is an ideal match for the material. Sky Blue Sky may find Wilco dipping their toes into roots rock again, but this doesn't feel like a step back so much as another fresh path for one of America's most consistently interesting bands. ~ Mark Deming

Rolling Stone (p.87) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[O]ften beautiful, disarmingly simple music; it really sounds like six guys playing in a room, and no doubt that's how they wanted it."

Rolling Stone (p.116) - Included in Rolling Stone's "50 Top Albums of the Year 2007" -- "[There is] a psychedelic grace and communal warmth both in the music...and Tweedy's lyric optimism."

Spin (p.89) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his is a near-perfect album by a band that seems, finally, to have found their identity."

Alternative Press (p.159) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Cline positively smolders, ebbing and flowing between the rest of the band, laying intricate groundwork for these songs..."

Alternative Press (p.128) - Included in Alternative Press's '10 Essential Albums Of 2007' -- "[With] Jeff Tweedy's 'I've been to hell and back' vocals and Nels Cline's delicately constructed fretwork..."

Magnet (p.112) - "Jeff Tweedy has never sounded more at ease than on the aptly named SKY BLUE SKY....The album's tone is set by the gentle string swells and delicate, jazzy guitar solo punctuating opener 'Either Way'..."

The Wire (p.68) - "Cline is one of the best things to have happened to Wilco, his improvisational style bringing some spontaneity to the group's [sound]....SKY BLUE SKY is a step forward for Wilco..."

No Depression (p.87) - "[T]he way Tweedy and company work the details is satisfying, and often inspired. 'Either Way' links musical sections together in a manner that lays out the album's strategies."